Re: [Fsuk-manchester] RMS on Swedish Pirate Party vs Free Software

[Simon Ward]

On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 04:06:17PM +0100, Pater Mann wrote:
> Simon Ward wrote:
> > All software, regardless of how it is licensed during the
> > copyright term, should become free to the public.

> should be protected such that it will always remain free software and
> cannot be exploited by commercial companies for their own gain

When copyright expires I don’t believe free software and proprietary
software should be treated any differently:  The software becomes free
for _everyone_, free or proprietary.

If someone now wants to use something that was free software but is now
out of copyright in their proprietary software for their own gain, they
can do.  A shorter copyright term just means that the software becomes
free to the public soon enough that they can actually benefit from it,
and with a presumably reasonable time for the company to get a bit of a
competitive edge from their work.

Yes, copyright expiry does effectively nullify the reciprocal aspect of
the GPL, but providing the source is available you still have the four
freedoms.  It also kills off any proprietary software vendor’s right to
assert their licences, and then people gain freedom.  It puts all
software on the same level, and removes some of the barriers that
segregate software and cause massive duplication of effort.

Simon
-- 
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that works.—John Gall

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