Re: [tlug] Bill Gates and the GPL , let the flames begin

["Daniel A. Ramaley" <daniel.ramaley@example.com>]

On Monday 05 May 2008 05:59, Curt Sampson wrote:
>On 2008-04-29 09:24 -0500 (Tue), Daniel A. Ramaley wrote:
>> I don't really see what the difference is between a 10 line program
>> and a multi-million line program.
>
>Well, this one fortunately is relatively easy to find. out. Write a
>ten line program, write a ten thousand line program, and look at the
>difference. It's something like a thousand times that.

Yes, obviously there is a different amount of work involved. But what 
difference does that make when it comes to licenses of libraries? If 
you don't want to GPL your 10-line program, then simply exclude GPL 
libraries from consideration for inclusion. Same for the multi-million 
line program. At a not terribly abstract level i think writing a 10 
line program versus a million line program and including someone else's 
library is the same thing. The only difference is a matter of scale, 
and that is not a philosophically significant difference.

>D) Writes software when not paid by others and gives it away, and
>    D1) makes primary living from other than writing software
>    D2) makes primary living from writing software

I'd say i fall into D2. I don't have much software i've written that is 
worth distributing very widely and have never bothered to set up a web 
repository of what i've written. I give small programs and 
documentation away to people who can benefit from it though. All my 
software is GPL 2, though i'd certainly consider BSD licensing for 
something if asked by someone wanting to use my code. Setting up a web 
page with all my code and documentation is on my Projects List, but not 
being someone who gets too excited about web development, it hasn't 
happened yet.

About half of my job is writing and maintaining software, usually GPL 
code that we've developed internally or downloaded and put into 
production (with or without modifications--in the case of modifications 
i always send those back to the upstream maintainer). For my purposes, 
both professionally and personally, GPL works best. I'm quite happy 
with BSD licensing too and unlike the more rabid GPL fanatics don't 
consider it a moral crime to use a license other than GPL. I'm more 
likely to contribute code to a GPL project though, knowing that some 
commercial entity can't take it without contributing back their 
changes. Sure, the original code would still be free, but if it becomes 
abandonware it won't be useful after a few years when the software 
world moves on. If code is still worth using at all, i'd rather 
maintenance of it be contractually enforced on those wanting to keep 
using it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Ramaley                            Dial Center 118, Drake University
Network Programmer/Analyst             2407 Carpenter Ave
+1 515 271-4540                        Des Moines IA 50311 USA