[Asterisk-Users] Re: Advice on OS Choice

[Joe Greco]

> Joe, could we stop this now?  It's obvious that if you go to a GPL 
> project and start slinging mud at the GPL, you are in the wrong place. 

No, I was making a point.  It's possible for the GPL to be a negative
effect on a project.  We led into the discussion in a fairly reasonable
train of thought.

> I would recommend that you head over to a Microsoft mailing list where 
> I'm sure you will find an abundance of fodder for your outdated 
> methodologies.

My outdated methodologies?

> When was the last time you actually worked in the industry?  

2004.  But not since last week.  Damn, I'm being lazy!

revision 1.571
date: 2004/10/11 15:36:48;  author: jgreco;  state: Exp;  lines: +11 -0

> I think 
> you'll find if you get back out there that things have changed a lot 
> since the 80's (JK).

Have they?  Yes, I guess they have.  There's more acceptance of free
software as a solution.

> But seriously.  This thread is getting a little silly.
> 
> Can't we just agree to disagree?  The longer you continue this, the more 
> people you will involve from this list.

I guess what bothers me most is that I don't "disagree":  I think it's fine
to release code under whatever license you want.  However, I strenuously
object to being vilified as some sort of Evil Corporate Lackey just because
I've pointed out that the GPL prohibits some people from participating in
the development process - for whatever reason.

As one of the lead developers of a major BSD-style-licensed open source 
project, I've personally seen companies take the code, modify it heavily
for internal use, and go their own way.  I've also seen companies take the
code, modify it heavily for internal use, and then contribute lots of
changes back to the project.  Is it disappointing not to get changes back
from someone?  Yes.  However, many times it doesn't matter since they're
only applicable locally anyways.  And in most cases, the code isn't
distributed anyways, so they'd be free to do that, even under GPL.

What irks me is that the GPL advocates usually seem absolutely convinced 
that there are no circumstances under which the GPL is a negative 
influence, and that every bit of software on the planet can and should 
be open source.  It's a viral license.  That has its advantages.  To hear
these people talk, it also has no disadvantages.

> Anyway -1 Flamebait.  (also muted in playerlist)

Heh.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.