Re: GPL and Nvidia

[Bill Davidsen]

On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, Andrew Walrond wrote:

> I think we were suckered into the GPL by lawyers ;)
> 
> Seriously though, I believe the GPL is the biggest impediment to 
> gnu/linux and open source software that anyone could possibly come up 
> with. Frankly I'm suprised NVidia and others bother supporting linux, 
> but am very glad they do.
> 
> IMO The only license we need is
> 
> "Here is, for what it's worth, some software. You can use it in any way 
> you like; modify it, fix it and if you can make some money from it - 
> great! Go feed your family. Fixes, changes and improvements are always 
> welcome, but not mandatory. Enjoy!"

We don't need a 2nd BSD license, one is more than enough. Let Linux and
BSD offer alternatives. Of course given the relative success of Linux and
BSD I think we can safely say that the decision has been made as to which
will be more appealing to users, although I'm not totally sure why.

I actually prefer a license which says may be freely used in open source
freely redistributable software, and otherwise requires a commercial
license with royalty. In other words, "this is my gift to humanity to be
freely used and enjoyed. If you insist on limiting or concealing it I want
to make money on it, too." 

-- 
bill davidsen <[e-mail]>
  CTO, TMR Associates, Inc
Doing interesting things with little computers since 1979.