GPL and BSD

Reject Imaginary Property
HackPatents CNN who controls they way you think presents us with a false dichotomy between the free market and socialism. The free market isn't free because ideas can't be freely implemented due to lack of UnlimitedBandwidth, patents, copyright and the GPL restriction from Stallman's Free software foundation(Restricted software foundation). HackPatents the designs on Wind energy, communications etc. and sell using a fronting company, one can't go to jail for civil debt in South-Africa as per a constitutional court ruling. Since the empowerment partner as the CEO of the fronting company has no assets to begin with, he has nothing to lose. This is a significant loophole to exploit in South-Africa to bypass patents. Ron Paul put the view to Larry King that Michael Moor is confusing corporatism with capitalism. Large corporations use their monopoly powers to prevent the free market from operating with HackPatents. Through deception by NBC (controlled by corporate GE) the corporatism is equated with capitalism, much like Richard Stallman(RMS) Newspeaks a restriction(GPL) into a freedom(BSD). GE owns the patents on Wind energy, enabling them to sell wind turbines at any price, by deceiving the public to vote for the Democrats to solve a problem that doesn't exist Global warming, they legislate their own laws to benefit corporate GE.

GPL and BSD

 * http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/bsdl-gpl/article.html#GPL-ADVANTAGES
 * http://slashdot.org/story/99/06/23/1313224/FeatureGPL-vs-BSD
 * http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/computers/open-source/gpl-bsd-and-suckerism/
 * http://www.freebsdnews.net/2008/07/18/bsd-license-vs-gpl-license/
 * http://slashdot.org/~Chemisor/journal/143017
 * http://news.slashdot.org/story/08/07/08/1832255/Linguistic-Problems-of-GPL-Advocacy
 * http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=506636+517178+/usr/local/www/db/text/1999/freebsd-hackers/19991003.freebsd-hackers
 * http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/5935 Explains how BSD allows ideas to remain free.
 * http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/computers/open-source/gpl-bsd-and-suckerism/ Arguments as why BSD must be used and not GPL

GPL adovates have missed one of the key points that makes the BSD license do so much good for the world. The BSD license, by allowing people to use its code in commerical products, promotes commercial products following open standards.

The classic example is TCP/IP. There are a lot of commercial products out there using the Berkeley TCP/IP stack, and one of the big reasons for that is that it's cheaper than developing their own protocol stack or even buying one. The value we see from this is the network effect; that a device communicates using the Berkeley TCP/IP stack rather than Novell's IPX stack or Microsoft's networking stack benefits all of us, because we can much more easily communicate with it (even, perhaps, in ways that the author did not intend). Open standards are even more important to freedom for computer users than open source. (Having source code and patents documenting an idea is nice, but it's not much good if it doesn't permit you to inter operate with other platforms out there or implement the idea itself. Linux is popular because it talks to other computers.) Therefore, I'd say that the Berkeley license has done more than any other licence to bring us to the state today where we have a lot of freedom in our computing choices. Freedom means the freedom not to share an idea based on derivative ideas. A company is free to tweak the TCP/IP protocol in a commercial product without having to release the derived code, with GPL they would be forced to release any derivation.

There is not a single idea held by anyone that isn't somehow a derivative of another idea by somebody else. GPL adovates expect to be recognized for 'their' ideas, ideas which are most probably somebody else's who didn't seek recognition. GPL doesn't allow a user the freedom to do with the code whatever he wishes, but like copyright and patents restricts its usage. A restriction isn't freedom, restricting the implementation of ideas leads to Unintended_consequences, such as the inability to commercialize an idea.

If the TCP/IP was released under GPL it would have prevented Microsoft from adopting it. Forcing Microsoft to use their proprietary protocol by forbidding them to use TCP/IP out of spitefulness could have established the Microsoft networking stack as a de-facto standard like their Office suite is a standard, with catastrophic consequences for society as a whole. Many GPL advocates are over-estimating their own importance and the importance of the code they contribute. They have an undue desire for recognition on trivialities -

Parkinson's Law of Triviality, also known as bikeshedding or the bicycle shed example. GPL like copyright is a restriction, not a freedom. Freedom means that a person has the right not to share his derived ideas, with GPL he is forced to share his ideas. GPL license is like the restriction on derived ideas we have with HackPatents, patents documents the idea, but doesn't allow its implementation without permission.

GPL is proprietary software
GPL is a copyright proprietary license; without an author who owns the copyright, the copyright is meaningless. An owner of the copyright must be established in order to make the copyright enforceable and license under which he licenses the code. The only alternative to this under copyright law is the public domain. All licensing such as GPL, BSD etc. are subject to copyright law. Proprietary is the characteristic of a proprietor, by having the exclusive legal right, or exclusive title to something, an owner. Proprietary software is owned software. The FSF owns gcc through their copyright on the gcc compiler, they have retained exclusive legal rights to gcc. Red Hat is the copyright holder of Gluster and Oracle bought the copyright to MySql. Red Hat, Oracle and FSF as licensors of their proprietary software licensed their code to the licensee under the GPL license, the GPL restrictions only apply to the licensees and not the copyright holder. GPL regulates the behavior of software, much like Microsoft regulates their users. As proprietors of MySql, Gluster and GCC they can initiate arbitrary legal action against companies while not targeting others. All derived code that the licensees provide back to Oracle(licensor) can be used by Oracle in closed source projects.

In a semantic smoke and mirrors exercise FSF have convinced the public that if code is under the GPL license then the licensor and licensee can use the code under the same terms. GPL only places an obligation on the licensee, not the licensor. Thus Red hat will litigate against anyone using its Gluster code in violation of the GPL as it sees fit while releasing closed source code to anyone as it sees fit. FSF and RSM usage of proprietary and free confuses this point. There are basically only two concepts: Proprietary and Public domain. The omission in the GPL propagandizing at http://www.gnu.org and http://www.fsf.org on the usage of GCC as opposed to the Clang compiler is that FSF retains the copyright, which establishes them in a dominant position over the users(GPL licensees). This is not what freedom and equality means.

BSD license was created to prevent liability litigation over code released to the public domain(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_software). Most countries are subject to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention which defines that something is either proprietary or in the public domain. Only proprietary code can be released under a license such as BSD and GPL. This allowed for example the Pixhawk code licensed under BSD to relicensed under LGPL when they merged with the http://www.diydrones.com project. RMS can't redefine the legal concept of Proprietary as the opposite of Public domain by using the terms free(GPL) and permissively free(BSD): something is either proprietary or public domain(free). What Stallman refers to as freedom under GPL is actually dictated behavior of the licensee by the licensor - http://onlamp.com/onlamp/2005/06/30/esr_interview.html
 * (Pending: BSD clause-3 seems to release copyright to public domain and thus once BSD it can't be relicensed to some other code ...don't know will get back to this...)


 * ...Linux Format UK - December 2012 ..p.61.... the code is effectively held in common.....  All are free to read, study and share it. As such, it's impossible for workers to be locked in by those above them in the class system, since at any time they can choose to put the means of production, the code to use for their own ends....

The code is held in common by which licensor and how many copyright(licensors) holders are there? Copyright law doesn't restrict the number of copyright holders. In the quote the "...held in common ..." it isn't made clear as to who these "commoners" are: they are the copyright holders, establishing a master/slave relationship with licensees using GPL, which by definition means they are above the licensees of GPL. Companies can't as the licensee of Red hat's Gluster(GPL) produce a product under their own terms, while Red hat can use their derived code under any terms such as releasing derived code under a closed product and not releasing the derived ideas back to the company again.

Copyright law allows the licensor to license the code under any number of licenses and to instigate arbitrary legal action or no legal action against any licensee: this is not what "freedom" is supposed to be. Freedom is only works released under the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_software. Only a copyright holder can release something as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft and revoke such license. Copyleft is a form of licensing that is used to maintain copyright conditions for the licensor while delegating reduced rights to the licensee while making the licensee believe he has the same rights, much like the pigs in Animal Farm thought they had equal rights.

(Pending: Socialism is the centralized means of production, Communism is the centralization of ideas or allowed behavior/ideas. Redhat would ideally want to have all copyright on all of Linux, this would enable them to use slave labor working for free while under the delusion that as licensees of GPL they are on an equal standing with the licensor. )


 * http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html .... ...Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. With these freedoms, the users (both individually and collectively) control the program and what it does for them....

GPL and cloud computing
http://www.softpanorama.org/Copyright/License_archive/gpl.shtml#GPL%20and%20Fair%20use The GPL does NOT prevent corporate interests from exploiting your work with no remuneration to you. For example, if I can arrange my money-making scheme so that all your GPL'ed code is running on my server somewhere, and the clients are just accessing it over the web, guess what? I'm making money from your code, and I don't have to give it to anyone.

Clint/server approaches can take a lot of the bite out of GPL. Look at TiVo. They are certainly benefiting greatly from Linux, but the guts of their stuff runs as an application, and so does not have to be GPL'ed. They take the regular Linux kernel, make a few mods (which they GPL), and then use it to run their proprietary application. And then there is component-based computing: COM on the Windows side, and CORBA everywhere else. GPL, which is fundamentally based on a dying model of how computer programs work, provides basically no protection then.

RMS uses 'freedom as metaphor for 'behavior'
RMS uses freedom as a metaphor for behavior or dictated behavior. His FSF holds the copyright on the GCC compiler. The GPL doesn't change the ownership of a snippet of code. It only changes the terms under which others can use that code. The original author still retains the copyright to do whatever the he wants with his code. (''merge this section: The original author, who is the copy(right|left holder, can do whatever he pleases, including putting it into a proprietary system. Nobody ELSE can do that, and it's an important distinction. GPL is all about redistribution.'')


 * (pending work this section in later: Oracle bought the mysql copyright, this allows them to take all GPL forks of mysql and release the innovations under their own proprietary databases. Thus the whole point of having people give back under GPL was defeated)

The original author can release the same code under multiple licenses.He could license it under all 67 licenses currently available. Lets presume an irrational actor from say Iran pinches off $4bil in oil funds and employs 10000 coders all being promised that the code will be released as BSD, but because Iran is the copyright holder they instead release it under lets say 1200 licenses, thus sterilizing the code because it would tie up companies in endless litigation with the copyright holder.

Google is openly violating the GPL clause of Linux with its Android system by not releasing code back. If an injunction is obtained against Google, the only way they would be allowed to re-use Linux once they comply is all the hundreds of copyright holders on Linux give their permission: they will never all give such permission. (add busybox section later at another edit date)


 * pending: (this section needs citations) One option would be for the oil producing countries to assemble a war chest of $10bil and bribe enough copyright holders of Linux to start enforcement action against Google and others violating GPL. It would be one means of sterilizing the Linux code base. The drafters of the GPL could not have known that major GPL projects important in the functioning of our economies would have hundreds or even thousands of copyright holders and that with enough oil money bribes they could wreck mayhem.

Stallman as GCC copyright holder wants the licensees to engage in a certain behavior. If such behavior meets his moral code he calls it freedom. Coders should only have the 'freedom' to engage in behavior as sanctioned by Stallman. Thus he Newspeaks 'restriction' into 'freedom'.

Both patents and copyright allows the licensor to license an idea to the licensee with specific terms that lays down the "behaviour" of the licensee. Under GPL which applies only to the licensee the behavior required of the licensee is to release all derivative works back to the licensor.

PENDING: Nobody can legally define what a derivative work is to begin with. (will come back to this later at another edit date of this page)

Since my behavior is outlined by the licensor I do not have the freedom to behave in a manner outside the terms of the copyright holder of GCC or a patent holder. RMS pulled an Orwellian Jedi doublethink mind trick by restricting my behavior to his MORAL code and deceived the wider Linux community to say that behaving in the manner he wants is Freedom. Read Animal Farm from George Orwell.

RMS deceived coders to say: Restriction is freedom! Much like the animals in animal farm chanted Slavery is freedom!. He pandered to communist resentment and people's desire to eliminate all class differences.

Lets be very clear about this: A restriction isn't a freedom. If there is any restriction about how one is allowed to develop an idea then it is George Orwell Newspeak to call such restriction a freedom.

GPL allows people with resentments to ensnare the rest of the world with it. They resent Steve Job's and Bill Gates being billionares. In this state of resentment they want to use the GPL for assured mutual destruction, like is happening with with environmental destruction of forests because 2000 idea restricting HackPatents are making patented commercial StirlingEngines unavailable to Africans.


 * Pending: place in section about Ogg Vorbis and theora under BSD in an attempt to get Microsoft to adopt the standard so that windows and linux can play the same files. Instead we have the defacto mp3 and Mpeg-4 standard under license restrictions. GPL proponents don't understand that if Linux can't communicate with Windows at all, then Linux will become utterly irrelevant. GPL prevents microsoft from adopting Linux code, thus preventing communication between them, establishing Windows as a defacto standard for applications.

Opensource newspeak
Opensource is a form of newspeak to obfuscate that it actually mirrors the effect of a patent: access to the source code is provided by the copyright holder such as Redhat, but one is restricted in how it can be implemented - HackPatents. Redhat implements the code released back by the licensees in their own closed solutions. It is deceitful to call a restriction on the licensee a freedom. GPL advocates must sort out their terminology and use properly defined terms to reflect what they mean as defined in dictionary's. A licensor / licensee relationship isn't "freedom", it is a master/slave relationship.


 * (Pending: If the US government releases GPL code then nobody can implement closed solutions of it? What scheme is Redhat upto for them to leverage government code in closed solutions, while nobody else can)


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_license BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix-like operating system after which it is named.

GPL is labeled free software while BSD is labeled permissive free which is Orwell Newspeak obfuscation. Something isn't eiher free or permissively free it is either restricted or free.


 * .... wishing to publish BSD-licensed software which relies upon separate programs using the more-restrictive GNU GPL....

Note the more-restrictive(GPL) from the article as opposed to permissive free. GPL is uses free and more-restrictive interchangeably. Restrictions leads to unintended consequences. Ideally there should be no restrictions on any idea whatsoever, no copyright ect. We would now have had a cheap cure for cancer available had it not been for the unintended consequences of idea restricting patents, GPL and copyright. Microsoft, Apple and GE are working the system, what has to change is the law. BSD developers and Stallman(GPL) agree that all copyright and patents must be disbanded. Since this isn't going to happen BSD takes the pragmatic view by realizing that commercial companies will provide code back since it is in their commercial interest to have a global pool of developer knowledge by people. GPL communism tries to take out its frustrations with the legal system on Microsoft, leading to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences
 * More recently, the law of unintended consequences has come to be used as an adage or idiomatic warning that an intervention in a complex system tends to create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes.[7][8][9][10] Akin to Murphy's law, it is commonly used as a wry or humorous warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them.

Communists tried to regulate every facet of human interaction, restricting the freedoms of people and ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZemhXvN2stE&NR=1&feature=endscreen states that Stallman started the free software movement, this is incorrect as the MIT BSD like license was available before his GPL restriction as an answer to copyright restriction. GPL forces users to provide code back to a government agency who released it as GPL, without the government agency having to release code back to the developers but still able to use the code internally and derive benefits from extending the code, since government agencies and corporations are considered a single legal entity or person by law. This defeats the whole expectation of GPL coders that entities would be forced to release modifications back to them or they wouldn't be able to use their ideas.

Theo
http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20070901041657
 * GPL fans said the great problem we would face is that companies would take our BSD code, modify it, and not give back. Nope—the great problem we face is that people would wrap the GPL around our code, and lock us out in the same way that these supposed companies would lock us out. Just like the Linux community, we have many companies giving us code back, all the time. But once the code is GPL'd, we cannot get it back.

products
Ironport, isilon, ncircle, netapp, netscaler, juniper, sandvine, pallisade, avid, nokia, vxworks, thomson, panasas, symmetricon

GPL and Google: the fine print
Many GPL advocates are actually communists with the view that there shouldn't be any class differences and that nobody must make money of their ideas without them getting a cut.

Google is using GPL code internally, generating wealth with it and not releasing their code modifications. A communist using the GPL to fight the corprotism(which he confuses with the free market) don't understand that he is in anycase not deriving direct financial benefit. Many communists have spent months of their lives behind GPL code, which was then used by Google, without Google paying them a cent.

Thus rather use the BSD license and at least formalize what is taking place in reality. GPL is a form of communism that will not allow any idea to be commercialized. As a commercial company there must be derived ideas that Google can't release to the public domain. One can't expect a company to invest Billions of dollars in hardware to release a product and release detailed exact descriptions of what they did. Imagine that all commercial companies be forced to release their internal trade secrets and suppliers, it would prevent people from investing in the first place. http://www.stallman.org/ logic is that Sasol must provide a DVD containing detailed blueprints on its implementation of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process petrol production process. Since this isn't going to happen like it isn't going to happen that Vodacom will suddenly allow free access to its 900Mhz spectrum we need to be realistic and rather implement the BSD pragmatic approach - http://sasecurity.wikia.com/wiki/GPL_and_BSD#Help_Vodacom_rather

BSD encourages but doesn't force companies to release back their derived ideas. Apple has done many code releases back to http://www.freebsd.org and many of the core BSD developers work for Apple. GPL advocates and anybody else were free to buy Apple stock and share in the companies wealth. Yahoo releases back code to the postgresql BSD, keeping their in-house modifications current with the main SQL fork, allowing them to employ postgreSQL developers for proprietary coding. For Yahoo, Google, Sasol etc. to have a business case they must be able to use algorithmic abstractions documented by others, without publishing such modifications.

GPL thus penalizes those trying to sell electronic products using such GPL code, while Sasol uses GPL code internally to sell petrol, but Sasol can't be sued for selling an end product. In both cases an end product is being sold, in both cases GPL code is used to provide such product, yet only the electronic product is actually able to be targeted in litigation.

Telecom firms I explained under Crime and Bandwidth solution are legal firms with an antenna on their roof engaging in Rent seeking, recycling math algorithms on FpGa devices. GPL,Copyright and HackPatents holders and coders also are rent seekers, expecting money each time their ideas are used. This has resulted in an Aristocracy lording over indentured slaves, who don't have the money like Apple, IBM to patent ideas and aren't being allowed to setup their own businesses using patentend ideas.

This has partially resulted in 25% of world GDP being concentrated in the hands of 200 companies. This is not a failure of capitalism or the freemarket but Newspeak obfuscation by the powerful mind control entities CNN, Fox news. etc. who don't want the public to understand this. The solution to this isn't more restrictions on ideas and their implementation, which is what the GPL license is.

GPL fragmented the Unix base
GPL splintered the BSD freebsd Unix base(Ubuntu, Red hat etc), thousands of sharp minds are wasting their time building a better bike-shed, not able to incorporate the superior file management system under BSD(nuclear power plant). Red Hat used clever legal tricks to in effect leverage the work done by developers under GPL but not release back these innovations. They have made it clear to their paying clients that there will be some form of retribution if they release code to others. Red Hat worked out a scheme whereby they are making money of GPL code but not giving back some of these modifications. (this need citations, I have lost the article and will cite it once found again)

http://linuxfonts.narod.ru/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html provides a list of Nvidia driver issues. The complexity of Linux is scaling out of control due to a fragmented developer base and design flaws. BSD is more centralized.


 * Problems stemming from the vast number of Linux distributions: No unified configuration system for computer settings, devices and system services. E.g. distro A sets up networking using these utilities, outputting certain settings residing in certain file system locations, distro B sets up everything differently. This creates confusion for users.


 * Due to unstable Linux and constantly changing kernel APIs/ABIs Linux is ineffective for companies which cannot push their drivers upstream into the kernel for various reasons like their closedness (NVIDIA, ATI, Broadcom, etc.), or inability to control development or co-develop (VirtualBox/Oracle, VMWare/Workstation, etc.), or licensing issues (4Front Technologies/OSS).


 * "...There should be no reason why you can't take the last release that AMD made for that HD3200 and have it run perfectly on the latest distro and the fact that you stand here and admit that it doesn't work just shows what is wrong with linux in a nutshell...."

Too many devs tinkering with drivers, kernel and low level internals with not thinking through the effect this has on backwards compatibility. Backwards compatibility is required, because most software companies aren't going to pay a team of devs to constantly rebuild their products to cope with fragmented changes.

Shuttleworth could have done like Google did with Android and fork the thing away from the devs so that real stability and BSD style central management could be brought to bare instead of the cat herding we have now, but it was not to be.

Linux has beautiful UIs, and tons of software, but retailers won't touch the product if installing it on a system and 6 months later its broken its own drivers because decentralized dev's changed low level system files and disabled the retailer's customer WiFi or sound...(Add Pulse section later)

Gluster New speak
http://community.gluster.org/q/why-did-gluster-choose-gnu-gpl-agpl-instead-of-bsd-license/
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak

''...BSD license allows proprietary derivatives and forks of Gluster software. GNU GPL and AGPL defends software freedom better than BSD license. We would like to ensure enhancements to Gluster software to be contributed back to the community....''

Gluster not allowing their ideas to be used elsewhere without documenting such derived ideas is a restriction and specifically not a freedom. They are owned by Red-hat

later
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/

Apple issues
Steve Jobs stated ....... Apples makes the best notebooks on the planet .... Which is true, but what he failed to mention is that this is because Apple patented key technologies that doesn't allow other hardware vendors to reproduce similar products. The solution is to disband HackPatents and copyright, not add additional patent like restrictions with the GPL license. We must not fight restrictions like HackPatents with an incantation of the same restriction - GPL.

k
section on SSL allowing windows and linux to talk to one another.

Help Vodacom rather
The cell companies are running a rent seeking scam. There are various responses to this:

1) Distributed denial of service attack by sprinkling thousands of FpGa devices with the 3G protocol stack in peoples gardens. This could lead to a severe backlash and is a resentful, angry option like GPL allows angry communists to live out their classless society fantasy, leading to unintended consequences. Any large scale uncontrollable attack on the cell masts could lead to cell companies paying enough bribes to both the ANC and DA to change the constitution to provide Icasa with real powers and completely shut down all wireless networks: be careful what you wish for. Trying to destroy the commercial viability of cell companies could backfire badly.

2) The pragmatic option, grasping the reality of the situation and adapting to it. Try and see the situation from Vodacom's perspective and reduce their cost of doing business by allowing them to install for free mini-cell towers(femto cells) on your roof and even interlinking them using the opensource Ronja FreeSpaceOptics.

By reducing Vodacom's cost of doing business and forming a partnership between communities everybody benefits, enabling Vodacom to reduce their prices and still make a profit and not enabling them to demonize freedom loving people who will use the spectrum on 700,600,400Mhz etc. Since their business is so entrenched in 900Mhz no unauthorized usage of this spectrum must take place: we will not extend the same principle to 400Mhz - Unlimited bandwidth

Their present cost structure involves setting up expensive large towers, they have to raise their prices to recoup their costs and provide a return on investment. The GPL communist mindset would object and say that this isn't fair, sure life isn't fair, GPL supporters wants to wait for a classless fair society before allowing their ideas to be used. We have a limited lifespan on this earth, by the time 'fairness' arrives all of those reading this will be long dead.

GPL newspeak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software


 * Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and that can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients have the same rights under which it was obtained and that manufacturers of consumer products incorporating free software provide the software as source code.

pending merge with issue on derived works by lawyer and programmer under the UNIX secion.

Links
http://www.itworld.com/storage/295325/red-hats-new-patent-troll-weapon-gpl-violation


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