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Re: [News] GPL vs BSD vs Exploitation by Predatory Monopoly

In article <10128867.8tItTksYdb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Roy Schestowitz  <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>GPL and BSD : impact
>
>,----[ Quote ]
>| Corporations like Microsoft love the BSD-style licenses. Case in point is the 
>| Microsoft NT TCP/IP stack, which is basically a binary copy of the BSD TCP/IP 
>| stack. With a BSD-Style license, while code can not be stolen, rights of 
>| ownership cannot be enforced either.   
>| 
>http://zerias.blogspot.com/2008/01/gpl-and-bsd-impact.html

The blog author did make one mistake. He has the following as a GPL
rule:

-------------------------
#4: Everybody who modifies the source code must submit the changes back
to the original author
-------------------------

That's not correct. Modifiers of GPL software are obligated to
distribute modifications downstream, not upstream. If I modify someone's
code then I have to give the source of the modification to anyone I give
the software to. That may or may not include the original author.

In practice modifications are a public distribution. But there's nothing
in the GPL that requires the distribution be public.

BAJ

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