[Wolves] A rebuttal of George Weiss's comments on Linux and the GPL

Simon Gill wolves at mailman.lug.org.uk
Fri Mar 21 10:15:00 2003


I have read your article in Computer Weekly from the 20th of March and I
saw some comments which could lead to unnecessary Fear Uncertainty and
Doubt.

> "You could deploy or develop applications that compromise GPL=20
> licensing terms for open source software," said Weiss.

You can _distribute_ an application in a manner that compromises the GPL
but it is impossible to deploy or develop such an application. The GPL
simply states that when you sell or give your software to another person
or company then you must provide them with that software under the GPL
license. The GPL also states that whenever you provide software it must
include  all source code so that the receiver can build the binaries you
provide.

> If a user developed an application that was based on an open=20
> source application, or changed an open source program to use=20
> it effectively within the business, those changes would=20
> qualify as open source.
>
> "The open source community could copy the code,"

This is incorrect and this is due to the misconception above. Until and
unless you release the code outside of the business it is private to the
business and the community has no right at all to copy that code. An
important point is that the nature of the open source community is to
stay open, open sourced code should not be a free leg up to companies
wanting to make a fast buck.

As your article seems to be entirely based on the comments of Gartner's
research director it is difficult to take seriously if you already know
about Linux and the Open Source community but for all those who are
still in the dark you have the veneer of truth and respectability.

Please corroborate people's ideas and take a balanced look at the
issues.