[Fsf-friends] Re: Fwd: Re: [gscp] Goa Syllabus for Linux
Raghavendra Bhat
ragu@vsnl.com
Fri, 15 Nov 2002 15:46:02 +0530
Mahesh posts :
>> This is not the case with several licenses approved by the Open
>> Source Initiative, (OSI), like the BSD and MIT licenses. That is
>> why, BSD license is non-free.
^^^^^^^^
The BSD license is GPL compatible and is free but should never be used
by freedom lovers. The BSD license is fraught with danger in that it
allows a `non-free' fork to happen thereby cutting of the flow of
oxygen (freedom) back to the original source. The free original
source will not get the benefit of being free, because, now the
`non-free' fork is killing it. Freedom for that BSD licensed program
gets extinguished because the very license could not defend and
protect it.
The modified BSD license.
This is the original BSD license, modified by removal of the
advertising clause. It is a simple, permissive non-copyleft free
software license, compatible with the GNU GPL.
The original BSD license.
This is a simple, permissive non-copyleft free software license with a
serious flaw: the ``obnoxious BSD advertising clause''. The flaw is
not fatal; that is, it does not render the software non-free. But it
does cause practical problems, including incompatibility with the GNU
GPL.
--
ragOO