The FSF has moved address at least once, and more recently, now closed their offices entirely. I wonder if the new owners of their old addresses will or did get confused by copy-of-GPL requests.
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I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
81–90 of 585 posts
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#82> Writing the address on the envelope was awkward, as I haven’t used a pen in several years; it took a few attempts and some wasted envelopes... Wow -- I mean, sure, I don't use a pen that often, but I'm sure I hand-write something at least once a month...
There will soon be many people who never learn how to write, only type
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#83> Writing the address on the envelope was awkward, as I haven’t used a pen in several years; it took a few attempts and some wasted envelopes... Wow -- I mean, sure, I don't use a pen that often, but I'm sure I hand-write something at least once a month...
Think the last time I used a pen is about 8-9 years ago when I had to sign something to buy my home. Notes and stuff I just write on my phone or computer and I don't see what else I'd use a pen for.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't even remember the last time I've used a pen for anything other than writing a check.
You don’t even write down temporary notes? Or doodle geometry when coding UI?
I use a text editor for notes. I do have a drawing tablet for digital art but that's not really the same as a pen or pencil.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It is no more confusing to Americans than the fact that Europeans use A4 is to Europeans. Why should it be? Well, A4 (and variants) are not Europe-specific formats, it's the formats most of the world except some few countries (including the US) use, so I'd say it's slightly more surprising than the other way around.
Right, but why does that make letter size confusing? Even if every other country in the world used A4, the only people in the US who would even notice would be people who commonly do business with other countries or who live near the border. And in reality, Canada and Mexico also use letter so the border thing doesn’t apply. So why should letter confuse us just because other people use something else?
> Right, but why does that make letter size confusing?
That's the part I initially quoted; "the paper that the text was printed on wasn’t an A4, it was smaller and not a size I was familiar with. I measured it and found that it’s a US letter size paper at about 21.5cm x 27.9cm"
The author isn't from North America, so they had forgotten the format was different, so they got confused when they assumed it would have been A4 like the rest of the world, but it wasn't.
> the only people in the US who would even notice would be people who commonly do business with other countries or who live near the border
Or, as in the case of the author, they live outside of North American and send/receive letters to/from North America.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
The paper size and foreign stamps make sense, but I must say the inability to use a pen surprised me a little more.
Being unaware of paper sizes is baffling to me - where I live, letter and legal paper are common but I’m entirely aware of ISO216 paper sizes.
Odd take. It seems perfectly natural that the country using different sizes from everybody else would be aware of that fact, but that a country using the same size as 95% of the world might not know about the weirdo sizes used by those 5%.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#87> The first thing that came to attention, the paper that the text was printed on wasn’t an A4, it was smaller and not a size I was familiar with. I measured it and found that it’s a US letter size paper at about 21.5cm x 27.9cm. I completely forgot that the US, Canada, and a few other countries don’t follow the standard international paper sizes, even though I had written about it earlier. I guess I shouldn't be surp…
It’s US standard. Hence the infamous default PC LOAD LETTER message on HP printers that made zero sense to anyone outside the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER
PC isn't Personal Computer, it's Paper Cartridge.
That's the missing link for Americans.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#88> The first thing that came to attention, the paper that the text was printed on wasn’t an A4, it was smaller and not a size I was familiar with. I measured it and found that it’s a US letter size paper at about 21.5cm x 27.9cm. I completely forgot that the US, Canada, and a few other countries don’t follow the standard international paper sizes, even though I had written about it earlier. I guess I shouldn't be surp…
Look, there's plenty of things to complain about with regards to the US - especially these days. But getting upset about US citizens not using all the same standards in their daily lives as many other places is just silly. --It's like complaining about the UK and a relatively small number of countries that chose to drive on the left instead of the right. Could they change? Sure. Are they likely to change? Seems pretty unlikely.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nearly everything in the US uses letter, legal (letter but longer), or tabloid (double width letter, to be folded over). Much to my surprise, a random check of a US-based office supply company shows that they do have A4 in stock -- at a price about 40% higher than letter-sized.
> legal (letter but longer) This one surprised me quite a bit. I think most people have A4/letter-sized folders. Why does anyone think that papers slightly longer than those folders are a good idea?
Legal size folders exist and are widely used by people who use ... legal size paper.
Legal folders can be great to be able to print letter-sized things on, then you have an area at the bottom to write notes and stuff.
Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)
#90The FSF has moved address at least once, and more recently, now closed their offices entirely. I wonder if the new owners of their old addresses will or did get confused by copy-of-GPL requests.
Postman probably just redirects, with a business or institution it's easy to just have the Post Office direct all mail addressed to "Free Software Foundation" to the current address.
They don't have a current address to redirect to, they went completely virtual.