On Wed, 03 Feb 93 15:34:47 -0800, gnu@CYGNUS.COM wrote:
> The announcement *did* say this wasn't going to be gnu.misc.discuss...
> so let's focus a bit.
Yes, thanks, let's.
> A free software business is one that allows its customers the same
> privileges that it, itself, has with respect to the software.
> This includes public domain software, "donation requested" shareware,
> "UC Berkeley copyright" software, GPL, LGPL, and many more variants.
Further, I think that two features are essential for a free software
business; the code must be freely copyable, and source must be
available. With BSDI, source is available but it's not freely
copyable. With much MS-DOS freeware, it's freely copyable but source
is not available. Without both those features being present, the
customer does not have the same privileges as the business.
--
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> What canst *thou* say?
Crynwr Software Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
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