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On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:41:00 +0000 "Ben Goodger" <goodgerster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On 29/01/07, Neil Williams <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > Not true. Any non-copyrighted material is, by definition, public > > domain. > > > You continue to confuse "constricted by" and "under." I give up. As Adrian highlighted, free software is constrained by copyright - copyright is a restrictive law. It prohibits everything then allows the copyright holder to permit what they want to permit. That is why I highlighted the BSD licence - it is as permissive as copyright allows without becoming public domain, yet being that permissive allows modifications of the code to be made proprietary. Even so, a work licenced under the BSD licence is STILL constricted by copyright because nobody except the original copyright holders are permitted to remove the copyright notice or make the code public domain. The GPL enforces extra constraints - it is more restrictive than the BSD licence and it is these extra constrictions that get up the nose of Microsoft and other proprietary suppliers. Such people view the GPL as *very* constrictive because they want to make free software proprietary - not caring that this makes it even more constricted. I'm not confusing "constricted by" with "under" because there is no difference, in law. To perceive a difference where one does not exist is dangerous because there are people out there who will exploit that mistake - to your detriment. As I said originally, I know what you meant but all copyrighted works are constricted by copyright - simply because copyright is defined as constrictive by law. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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