UCITA, Licen[cs]e wrangling (was Re: Python 2.0b1 is released!)

[Bernhard Reiter]

In article <8pmbqb$gbu$1 at verence.demon.co.uk>,
	paul-wright at verence.demon.co.uk (Paul Wright) writes:
> In article <39BDDBF6.DFA954B4 at seebelow.org>,
> Grant Griffin  <g2 at seebelow.org> wrote:
>>Paul Wright wrote:

>>I can't help but point out that in believing that interpretation, you
>>are trusting the FSF.  I don't really know whether or not their
>>intrepretation on this issue is fair or accurate, but like any
>>self-respecting iconoclasts, they definitely have a bias here that one
>>should be aware of.

Yes, protecting the freedom of software for 16 years.
This is a track record I can build trust on. :)


>>But have you ever noticed that software licenses seem to be largely
>>academic anyway?  Here's what I have observed:
> ...
>>But specifically in the case of free/open software it is unlikely that
>>one would lose any kind of "implied warranty" lawsuit: if the software
>>was both free and open, the plaintiff would seemingly have a hard time
>>explaining why he thought you owed him money when it didn't work as he
>>intended, and when he was welcome and invited to fix it.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that, under British law, the fact that free software is
> given away without charge means that a lot of the consumer protection
> law doesn't apply.

Free Software is not necessary given away without charge.
Think Linux Distributions or Cygnus.
Free Software also can be commercial.

>>As another example, if you include a little GPL'ed code in a program
>>you distribute as an executable, there isn't much to force you to
>>follow the terms of the GPL; it's pretty unlikely that anybody will
>>discover this grave slight to the Noble Cause of Freedom, and it's even
>>_more_ unlikely that anybody will come after you for doing it. 

This is also not completly true.  It has been done there are some
cases, which were important.
The owner of the copyright has the right to sue.
NeXT for instance used the gcc and added objective-c.
Corel was put inder pressure because the were not including the
source...

	Bernhard
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