Re:Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software (2016)
by ajross on Monday June 04, 2018 @05:06PM
(#17232458)
> Neither of those examples gave you the right to re-distribute your modifications, and yet they were in fact valuable things to have.
Right, and those were therefore notable exceptions, shining examples of what might be even though most stuff wasn't.
The idea behind copyleft[1] is to enshrine that "valuable thing to have" as a fundamental promise. The GPL is the tool, not the goal. And even RMS agrees.
[1] And free software more generally, but this particular point is what copyleft was invented for.
Right, and those were therefore notable exceptions, shining examples of what might be even though most stuff wasn't.
The idea behind copyleft[1] is to enshrine that "valuable thing to have" as a fundamental promise. The GPL is the tool, not the goal. And even RMS agrees.
[1] And free software more generally, but this particular point is what copyleft was invented for.