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Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

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Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#111

Post by toyg »

bscphil wrote: post #97
toyg wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also people thinking an open license is a free-for-all. I put out some simple scripts some time ago to move data across a couple of sites, under MIT - super liberal license, “just keep the credits” and you can do anything you want. Simple, right? After a few years I checked the forks and the first (and often only) thing they were doing was to strip attribution everywhere. I mean, it’s github, you forked right fr…

> It’s also people thinking an open license is a free-for-all. I put out some simple scripts some time ago to move data across a couple of sites, under MIT - super liberal license, “just keep the credits” and you can do anything you want. Simple, right? This seems like a reasonable enough place to ask: if you have a project under MIT, and I pull a function out of one file to use in my project, where exactly do I owe…

IMHO the safest option is to drop it in the about screen or somewhere in the documentation, like Microsoft does, "This software includes portions of XYZ...". It doesn't really matter which line is what, imho, at the end of the day an actual trial would run some automated comparison analysis and pull out the relevant bits anyway. It's mostly about the spirit.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#112

Post by toyg »

cptskippy wrote: post #94
heavenlyblue wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone here on HN know of lawyer companies that would follow up on license violation requests in bulk? E.G. there are services like small claims court in the UK that _mostly_ automate the billing on unpaid invoices, is there something like that for licensing?

Maybe we need something like the DMCA Takedown Tools in Youtube for GPL License violations on GitHub? /s

Why the /s? It would actually be a good idea. The whole point of open licenses is that they work inside the established framework of copyright laws.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#113

Post by saagarjha »

toyg wrote: post #112
cptskippy wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we need something like the DMCA Takedown Tools in Youtube for GPL License violations on GitHub? /s

Why the /s? It would actually be a good idea. The whole point of open licenses is that they work inside the established framework of copyright laws.

DMCA takedowns are a remarkably heavy-handed way to deal with software licensing, which is often something that can often be resolved with some good-faith discussion.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#114

Post by saagarjha »

jimmaswell wrote: post #72
de_watcher wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You meant control over the users.

Forcing your users to have to GPL any of their code based on your code is controlling them more than releasing under a more sane permissive license. It's ironic that GPL is the true restriction of freedom for all the virtues it touts.

The GPL is quite clear in the responsibilities you have: protecting freedom requires taking away the right to be able to curtail it.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#115

Post by mieseratte »

farisjarrah wrote: post #80
thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #33

Without sounding too sacrilegious, Dr. Stallman is the Free Software Jesus--he preaches the gospel of Free Software to the whole world and associates with "sinners" calling them to repentance. If he can bring "the truth" of Free Software to Microsoft employees and help them "see the light", why wouldn't he? He certainly looks the part of Free Software prophet when dressed as Saint Ignuicius: https://stallman.org/sain…

> Sainthood in the Church of Emacs requires living a life of purity—but in the Church of Emacs, this does not require celibacy (a sigh of relief is heard). Now there's a quote that didn't age well... That whole page is just... strange...

What about it is unwell?

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#116

Post by saagarjha »

grzm wrote: post #84
nailer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

dang / sctb could you please change the link to the English one? Thanks.

The mods don't see every comment. The fastest way to get their attention is to email them using the contact link in the footer.

They seem to do a pretty decent job with comments on the front page.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#117

Post by lunchables »

farisjarrah wrote: post #80
thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #33

Without sounding too sacrilegious, Dr. Stallman is the Free Software Jesus--he preaches the gospel of Free Software to the whole world and associates with "sinners" calling them to repentance. If he can bring "the truth" of Free Software to Microsoft employees and help them "see the light", why wouldn't he? He certainly looks the part of Free Software prophet when dressed as Saint Ignuicius: https://stallman.org/sain…

> Sainthood in the Church of Emacs requires living a life of purity—but in the Church of Emacs, this does not require celibacy (a sigh of relief is heard). Now there's a quote that didn't age well... That whole page is just... strange...

There was a time when open source software wasn't so intermingled with commercial interests and people's professional lives that it was ok to make jokes.

Also, people didn't get offended so easily, which seems like a sport these days to see who can be more offended. I really miss those days.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#118

Post by yodon »

SonOfLilit wrote: post #93
Beltiras wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the hell are the downvotes for? Seriously?

You are being downvoted because you're preaching a terrible game programming mistake as the only reasonable approach. I didn't downvote you, but I wrote enough games to hope no young programmer takes your advice. Games, as iteratively developed creative products, always interweave engine with content. Trying to write a generic engine in parallel to your game is a surefire way to never release a game. Even if you set…

Can you cite the source for your Unity history quote? It's interesting and info I've not read before.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#119

Post by toyg »

saagarjha wrote: post #113
toyg wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the /s? It would actually be a good idea. The whole point of open licenses is that they work inside the established framework of copyright laws.

DMCA takedowns are a remarkably heavy-handed way to deal with software licensing, which is often something that can often be resolved with some good-faith discussion.

I do agree, there is no need to be as draconian as that, but a mass-identifying tool to start the relevant conversations would be pretty cool.

Re: Richard Stallman spoke at Microsoft Research this week

#120

Post by asciident »

seamyb88 wrote: post #104

I am a huge fan of Stallman.He is as close to 100% correct on software ethics as anybody has ever been. His contribution to computing has been immense. However, in a world where your social status can go down easier than it can go up, I think it's nearly impossible for younger, non-established programmers to live by these rules. We should push society, and the powerful, towards FOSS. But until that happens, the indiv…

Agreed, he took a lot of those position when they were immensely unpopular, and remained consistent without overclaiming when they became popular. I still think he is right about GPL, walled gardens, hardware, etc. despite now again losing the popularity contest.
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