On Friday 27 October 2006 16:10, jtd wrote:
The gpl does not ask u to give up freedom. It tells u treat others exactly equally. .
GPL does take away your freedom to make proprietary software though. Sometimes it can be necessary.
People always shout at NVIDIA or ATI for making closed drivers. But, say if you release the drivers and the specs, isn't it possible that someone else might copy your design or steal your ideas? I heard (I said, 'heard', I don't have a definitive proof for this..) that KDE 4 people are not releasing too many 'visual' details on Plasma just yet just to prevent people from copying their ideas.
I could be wrong here. Please correct me if I am.
I don't agree with RMS when he says that GPL is defending freedom this way. I think it enforces freedom. But, I don't mind that. Even the good things need to be enforced at times. Whatever it may be, I don't have a problem with the way GPL works.