On Wed, 26 Dec 2018, Mike Besemer wrote:
So you've file a lawsuit?
I am always surpized how many hams embrace the self-policing for amateur radio, but fail to see the similarities with the GNU Public License (GPL) for software. We as hams have the public trust for billions of dollars worth of spectrum. However, this comes with strings attached, in that we must promote and expand radio technology, and abide by certain rules. So when there are people who jam some nets, or use the spectrum inappropriately, WE take action to address it. Only in the most eggregious of cases does the FCC actually have to take an enforcement action. Just so with the GPL. I as a software developer have the benefit of billions of dollars worth of free software - a free compiler, a free operating system, and yes Jim Dixon's amazing work on Asterisk, all of which is covered by the GPL. Generally the software community self-enforces the GPL, and in the vast majority of cases, it is as simple as releasing the code. I do this because it is my obligation under the GPL, but I also license new work under the GPL because other people help improve what I started, and I still largely get the credit for it. Had the authors of Asterisk said: "We will not release the source code, but we will do a fantastic job in making sure Asterisk does all the things you want it to do", then Asterisk would have remain a telephone system. Only because they released the source code were hams able to extend it to do repeater linking. Only in rare cases where people continue to flaunt the GPL does it take a lawsuit to compel compliance, and these rarely go to trial because the cost of compliance is so trivial - just release the source code and you are in compliance! However, just like it sometimes takes the FCC to make sure that people comply with the conditions of their ham license, sometimes it takes legal action to force compliance with the GPL. In the end the GPL (just like our ham priviliges) is a social contract. We are granted an enormously valuable resource on the understanding that we will abide by a simple rule: you have to make your contribution freely available to others. So I sure hope that this doesn't turn into a lawsuit. That only serves to make lawyers rich. But in the end, it seems to me that the open source model has proven to be much more successful in the long run. I and many others have been able to make a decent living despite making our software available not just free of charge but free to improve. And in the process I have benefitted both in terms of getting credit for my contributions as well as well as from the clever things others have contributed to software I wrote. We don't have to be ugly about it and call people names. But the GPL is pretty black and white about the issue of releasing the source code. I don't know of a single case where somebody has eventually prevailed in arguing that you can start with GPL code and then refuse to release the source for the improvements. The GPL always wins out in the end. -Willem ================================================================ Dr. Willem A. Schreuder, President, Principia Mathematica Address: 445 Union Blvd, Suite 230, Lakewood, CO 80228, USA Tel: (303) 716-3573 Fax: (303) 716-3575 WWW: www.prinmath.com Email: Willem.Schreuder@prinmath.com