Thanks for another great edition
Jack!
Quote:
SCO CEO Publishes Open Letter On Copyright
ILN
Darl McBride, the CEO of SCO, has published an open letter on copyright. McBride argues that the GNU GPL violates the U.S. constitution and U.S. copyright laws.
Letter at http://www.sco.com/copyright/
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I just
had to comment on this. His entire "argument" is based on his perception that the GPL eliminates the profit motive. Needless to say, this is WRONG!
I suggest that he visit the FSF/GNU websites and read the GPL FAQ. The GPL does the opposite in fact i.e. it encourages free and fair capitalism better than proprietary licences can.
Secondly, the letter implies that the terms of copyright are legally binding. In fact an author can give away his/her creations/inventions and relinquish any copyright claims if they so desire. Copyright is a government-protected monopoly, but it's not mandatory.
Darl is another one of those people who believe that there are only 2 camps i.e. those who want strong copyright protection and those who don't want any. This simplistic view clouds his judgement and invalidates his entire argument. Nobody wants to eliminate all patents, only frivolous software patents. Not many people (especially not Stallman and the FSF, as the GPL is only as powerful as it is due to strong copyright protection) want to abolish copyright. We only want balance: Red Hat, the FSF, academics and the
ordinary global citizen included!
BTW Darl, "insure" is spelt with an "e" in that context.
I have no respect for SCO. They're a bunch of monkeys with typewriters. At least Microsoft are smart enough to understand the competition. They know that FUD doesn't work. You're doing a fine job Darl. CEO-of-the-year you are.
