[Fsf-friends] A counter-case for government supporting GPL development

Raju Mathur raju@linux-delhi.org
Sat, 26 Oct 2002 10:10:07 +0530


After all the MS hoopla about trying to get the US to ban the use of
GPL for publically funded software, here's a counter-argument:

http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/aigrain2.pdf

Abstract: This text provides a framework to discuss the consequences
of licensing choices that are applied to publicly funded libre
software. It discusses these choices from the angle of general public
interest and policy.  It concludes that one is led to prefer GPL
copylefting licensing especially for any libre software component
whose development is publicly funded, and when it is providing
functionality that plays or may later play a critical role as part of
the common infrastructure of the information society. At the same
time, some interesting questions derive from a better understanding of
the reasons that lead some to disagree with the choice of copylefting.

Regards,

-- Raju
-- 
Raju Mathur               raju@kandalaya.org      http://kandalaya.org/
                      It is the mind that moves