[Discussioni] [NEWS] Bisogna crescere e smetterla di fumarsi GPL

[Andrea Glorioso]

Ciao a tutti.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2004/tc20040813_1107_tc120.htm

  « [...]  Stallman's thinking suffuses the GNU General Public License
  (GPL), a  document that governs the distribution  of  Linux and many
  other  open-source programs.  The   GPL not only  requires  that any
  programs licensed under  it be freely distributed  but also that any
  modifications  made to the  software, or any  other software derived
  from it, are themselves automatically covered by the GPL.

  Unfortunately,  the  GPL  is hardly  a  model  of  clarity,  and few
  disputes  involving it have  gotten to court,  so  case law has done
  little to clarify its meaning. This  is causing reservations as more
  and  more companies consider  using  GPL-covered software to develop
  either commercial programs or  software   for their own use.   Apple
  (AAPL ),  for example, rejected Linux as  the basis of  Mac  OS X in
  favor of   another open-source,   Unix-like operating system  called
  FreeBSD, largely because the licensing terms were less restrictive.

  What exactly  constitutes a "derivative  work" automatically covered
  by the  GPL?  "The truth is  we   don't really  know, and  there are
  reasonable  arguments on both sides,"  Jay Michaelson, co-founder of
  software company Wasabi Systems and a lawyer and a programmer, wrote
  in  the  June  issue  of the  Association  for Computing Machinery's
  journal  Queue. "*Some people  argue that the  GPL  as a whole isn't
  even enforceable*.... At the end of the day, the unfortunate reality
  is  that  developers  should    check with   the   companies'  legal
  departments   before  proceeding with   any  GPL-related development
  because the requirements may vary on a case-by-case basis." »

  (grassetto mio)

+++

L'articolo  non è particolarmente  interessante  e contiene una  buona
dose di FUD; in particolare non  ho capito cosa intende Jay Michaelson
quando dice "Some   people argue that  the GPL  as a whole  isn't even
enforceable".

Non   abbiamo appena avuto un   esempio  contrario con  la sentenza su
iptables?  Oppure  la  mia  ignoranza  in  materia  giuridica  mi  sta
portando fuori strada?

Ciao,

--
Andrea Glorioso             sama a miu-ft.org         +39 333 820 5723
        .:: Media Innovation Unit - Firenze Tecnologia ::.
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