[Gllug] Hypothetical GPL question

[Rev Simon Rumble]

On Mon 08 Oct, Paul Brazier made the following spurious claims:

> I even wrote a small implementation on the "Life" cellular
> automaton using this method and a printed reference of 6502 assembly
> codes from a BBC micro manual.

Correct me if I'm wrong but assembly != machine code, right?

If you really were writing in machine code, you really are a sick man
and need help. :)

> To a non-programmer, access to C source code would be just as helpful as
> access to the "machine source code" i.e. the binary.

Not at all.  The GPL doesn't just protect programmers but anyone else
too.  Even if you can't code yourself, you can pay/convince someone to
do it for you if it's worth that much to you.  This is why, especially
for businesses, basing your business on closed source code is a no-no.

In fact, you'll find that many companies when they do base their
business on a particular piece of software insist that the source be
placed in escrow for the possibility that the vendor goes broke.

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net>
www.rumble.net

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