"clipka" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> > Oh, come on!  If you stopped whinning about sucky and evil GPL software
> > and pulled yourself together to write down replacement code for said
> > libs, you'd have by now a pretty large collection of good non-GPL
> > software under your belt.  After all, they are pretty trivial and simple
> > against your magnum opus.
>
> Isn't that just the same point the FSF is claiming about commercial software,
> just with a different "sign bit"?
>
> The bad companies will assimilate your free software project until, with their
> market power, they have "dried out" your project, so it only lives on as part
> of their closed, commercial code - and other similar free projects likewise, so
> the only alternatives left out there will be commercial products.
>
> What's the difference here to a bad FSF that will assimilate *my* free software
> project until, with *their* social power, they have "dried out" *my* project,
> so it only lives on under *their* GPL'ed, not-for-commercial license - and
> other similar free projects likewise, so the only alternatives left out there
> will be GPL'ed products...?
>
> I see people kind of measuring the one by the inches and the other by the
> centimeters here, while basically it's the same: Influential organizations
> trying to force their will on as much software as possible.

I see your point.  But I'd like to point out that your scenario of a GPL-only
environment is as ludicrous as a closed-source-only or BSD-only.  Closed
software will not die, despite highly successful free software projects and any
FSF advances.  There are projects which simply make no sense as shared
open-source projects.

That said, if you don't like GPL and its restrictions, it's just a matter of
choosing another source of well-maintained, bug-free software under a more
leech-friendly license.  Or create one your own!  I'm sure there are plenty of
anti-FSF developers out there ready to help you in your endeauvour.  and
benefit from it too... ;)

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