[openbeos] Re: Apple to steal yet more BeOS features...

>http://beosjournal.org/
>
>....
>I think we should move OpenBFS from MIT to LGPL to make sure 
>Apple doesn't rip it off... (but maybe it's too late) :)

I wish I had gotten to this sooner. :-)
OpenBeOS was, is, and always will be MIT licensed. 
The point is *exactly* to allow others to "rip it off".

Example - let's say that Microsoft (I can hear the booing and hissing)
decided that they wanted to read/write OBFS files because their customers
have OBFS filesystems and, well, they love their customers. :-)

The problem is that they have a proprietary file system interface and 
they would have to open up pieces of it if they had to keep the source open
(as GPL would require).

Now, if you are a zealot of the One True Way of GPL, you will say "tough - you 
chose
to be closed source". And that is true, as far as it goes. But. Let me just ask 
- will people
believe that Windows doesn't work with OBOS or that OBOS doesn't work with 
Windows?
You and I both know the answer to that. They will assume that Windows is right 
and 
we are wrong. 

By making it *easier* for companies to work with OBOS, they are more likely to 
choose it.
The more companies that choose it, the more people there are running it. The 
more interest
and publicity there is in it. The bigger the name becomes. Greater name 
recognition and
greater interest brings more software. Which makes everyone happy. 

GPL is probably the second largest issue holding Linux from overtaking 
Microsoft (ease of use is the largest). 
Yes, I know that FUD is FUD, but there is a *HUGE* number of people out there 
who don't understand the
real legal ramifications of GPL. People who think that software written on a 
GPL system has to be given away.
That sort of thing. And, to be honest, as a coder, I don't like GPL because I 
can't use the code freely - I have to
use it "their way". Which smells exactly to me like Microsoft's Shared Source 
model. ;-) 

In any case, OBOS is not ever changing licenses. That is GOOD NEWS FOR YOU!
You can use it freely in whatever you like, so long as you give us credit. 
Nothing more.
That is *MORE FREE* than GPL! Yes, that's right. More free. The *ONLY* people 
who are "injured" by the license are the developers. Because people can add to 
their work and keep it private. From our point of view, that is their choice. 
OBOS is a gift. And we have every intention of keeping it that way. That is our 
promise to you.

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