From ... Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!news2.kpn.net!news.kpn.net!nslave.kpnqwest.net!nloc.kpnqwest.net!nmaster.kpnqwest.net!nreader2.kpnqwest.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Subject: Re: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia References: <3213041760976232@naggum.net> <9rjts1$jf9$1@news3.cadvision.com> <9rk8v9$nkp$1@news3.cadvision.com> <86wv1d6cg5.fsf@coulee.tdb.com> <3213570717605377@naggum.net> <86pu72eu7c.fsf@gondolin.local.net> Mail-Copies-To: never From: Erik Naggum Message-ID: <3213910032404080@naggum.net> Organization: Naggum Software, Oslo, Norway Lines: 27 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 00:47:14 GMT X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@Norway.EU.net X-Trace: nreader2.kpnqwest.net 1004921234 193.71.66.49 (Mon, 05 Nov 2001 01:47:14 MET) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 01:47:14 MET Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.lisp:19183 * kaz@ashi.footprints.net (Kaz Kylheku) | The most common definition used in the consumer marketplace is that free | means you don't have to pay. Since you can obtain GNU-type software that | way, this interpretation holds true. No, it does not. If I get some gizmo for free, it is mine to use, abuse, destroy, take apart and use the parts for something else, etc. If I get some GNU GPL'ed source code for "free", if I take it apart and use the parts for something else, I suddenly owe somebody else something. This is _not_ what "free" means. If I modify the free gizmo and find a way to make some better gizmo, I owe nobody anything. If I do the same with a GNU GPL'ed program, I must give the new, better idea back to whoever gave it to me for "free". I think there is an old idiom, "Indian giver" or something, which applies to people who do not _really_ give things away. | For instance, a GNU program is *at least* as free as Internet Explorer, | which Microsoft claims is free for download. Well, yes, as long as you do not use the source code, which is supposedly the whole point with the GNU GPL. /// -- Norway is now run by a priest from the fundamentalist Christian People's Party, the fifth largest party representing one eighth of the electorate. -- Carrying a Swiss Army pocket knife in Oslo, Norway, is a criminal offense.