Re: [ox-en] Step-change by Free Software (was: Re: Software as society)
- From: "Niall Douglas" <s_fsfeurope2 nedprod.com>
- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:16:09 -0000
On 24 Jan 2004 at 16:47, Stefan Merten wrote:
If you do a google search, you'll get some idea of the social impact
of what was ultimately a very small bit of code.
I had meant google groups - I should have said. You'll find lots of
nasty things said about me there too and admittedly, I could have
approached many things better in my youth.
Well, after your ranting endlessly about Free Software being not able
to make step-change - at least not if under GPL - I expected an option
to buy a license from you.
Of course not. I have always believed in free software! - you'll find
stuff from me archived at HENSA from 1994 and perhaps earlier.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Now, Niall, something must be wrong here. Either your deed was not as
glorious as you are trying to convince us - and thus not a
step-change. Or you yourself gave us a very nice example of a GPL
licensed step-change in software - making your own xrants rather
pointless.
Firstly Wimp2 was hardly a step-change. Preemptive multitasking was
not new and never implemented before. It's a good example of
/incremental/ innovation - a logical obvious extension to a current
system.
Also, because this is another point you could not stop repeating again
and again, I'd be really interested if you wrote this code against
your will. If not there must have been at least some kind of volunteer
effort on your side - which you also say prevents step-changes. May be
you even have not been paid for your hours.
Secondly, I was a total GPL advocate until around Nov 2002 when I
began to realise I was wrong - and so is everyone else. To relicense
everything previously released seemed petty - so what I've released
under the GPL shall stay so. I will never release anything new under
the GPL again nor anything which can be converted to the GPL - hence
I use a modified LGPL license.
I hope that explains. Why do reply to email written over a month ago?
Cheers,
Niall
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