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

At 12:12 AM 3/30/2003, you wrote: 
>I find it amusing that both MIT and GPL start with "Copyright (c)"
>and then list all the ways the code can be copied/used.
>Seems counterintuitive.

It does, doesn't it. ;-)
But considering that copyright, in general, means that no one except the author
has any rights regarding this piece of work, it does make sense. :-) Of course, I am not a lawyer. ;-)

The way I've always understood it, GPL/BSD/MIT/etc. licenses simply use copyright to legally maintain the free status of code -- the copyright prevents someone else from coming along, claiming it as their own, closing the source, and then suing others for using their copyrighted works. I've always thought it was very clever, really -- they use copyright law to protect the right of free distribution of software, which is the complete opposite of what copyright was intended for.

-Aaron



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