Why does Humanity needs Free Software ?

[astrofos]

@Kin Calvin

 

Nice to have you here! Regarding to your, well thought, post I was the one arguing against "free-software" but only in the way GNU defines it. I don't think the viral nature of the GPL licence truly represents freedom.

 

For example, in a hypothetical world dominated by "free-software" a programmer would practically be compelled to use the GPL for his own work - except if he wanted to rewrite the entire underlying platform.

[apoikos]

@astrofos:

However, we should clarify that GNU does not necessarily mean GPL: there is the LGPL as well, that was created to resolve exactly these issues (especially for libraries) and does not "infect" packages that merely link to LGPL'd software.

 

As to your point, yes, you can view the GPL as a "restrictive" license (the official term is "protective" actually). On the other hand, protective licenses are the only kind of license that can actually ensure the software's source code will remain freely available to the public. The BSD license has no means of ensuring this, since the software can be redistributed without the respective source code. Thus, in the end BSD-licensed code can slowly disappear or (more likely) become obsolete in the same time that modified versions of it will be running in proprietary, closed systems.

 

I will, again, cite this source: http://www.dwheeler.com/blog/2006/09/01#gpl-bsd. I think it a worthy reading, as it points out some practical implications when choosing one license over another.

 

To conclude, I'm not claiming that the GPL is the universally best license. From a practical point of view, it makes sense to release some pieces of software (especially libraries) under a more "permissive" license, like LGPL, CC, BSD or MIT. But still, the big asset of (L)GPL is that it actually ensures that the code and all derivative work will always remain free.

[DIMITRISG]

Salut !

 

Yeap je vie en France ! M'enfin, juste pour qu'elles années encore ...

Je ne m'attendais pas à trouver des Francophones !

 

mais ouiii

 

i ve sent you a pm, we continue in english car is the most speaking here with the other insomniaks,

we 'll turn insomnia to international intelingual forum !

[Kin Calvin]

Sorry for the delay and thank you guys for expressing yourself in english.

 

Okay astrofos, I understand what you mean and I agree on what you have said. As apoikos said : GPL is not a universally best license.

 

I believe in diversity, the more there are licences and the more the developers will be free to choose the best licence for them. But I think in the name of democracy, no developers should chose to amputate users/humans freedom. All proprietary softwares represent a potential threat towards our privacy.

 

GPL has to be protective, otherwise all programs could potentially become proprietary.

 

 

Dimitrisg> I cannot locate you private message, tu peux me contacter par mails sans soucis, mon adresse se trouve dans la rubrique “About” de mon blog.

EDIT: I finally found the msg, but I am not sure the reply has been sent, please give me your mail by sending me one

[DIMITRISG]

Ici il y a un video sous titrè anglais, Stallman explique que certains ordinateurs vendu en France empêchent toute installation des systèmes dʼexploitation libres comme linux.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd0mq_stallman-vs-anti-linux-pc_news