[Sussex] Thoughts On Contrubuting to the Community

[Vic]

> So isn't
> your payment to the community, for using GPLed software, to contribute
> your experience back to that community?  I think it is.

No, it isn't.

This is Free Software. There is no "payment". Moreover, the GPL
specifically prevents attempts to add conditions to redistribution; the
very idea that any payment should be owing is anathema to the Freedoms we
espouse.

> You have an implied duty, under the GPL, a license you've agreed with by
> using the software, to contribute.

There is no duty, and the inferrence is flawed. Sorry to bang on about
this, but IME the fear that "you don't get anything for nothing" is a
hindrance to the adoption of FLOSS in several environments; I've met
several people who worry that there is some sort of catch, some sort of
implied contract that they will later have to fulfill (and fund, of
course). Postings to LUG lists claiming that such an implied contract
actually *does* exist merely reinforce that misconception.

> You MUST reply to this email saying
> how you contribute, how you pay your dues, for using Linux.

I "pay my dues" by doing nothing whatsoever - because there are *no dues
to be paid*.

> That's my EULA on this posting
> and all my future posting too:  To make use of the knowledge that I
> impart you must be a contributer too.

You'd better start suing, then. But if you think that you can bind me with
a contract to which I have given no consent just by sending me an email,
then you might want to go read up on the Unfair Contracts Act. And if you
believe that making your postings non-free by means of such a licence,
then you and I have very different interpretations of the value of Free
Software.

But nevertheless, I think the time has come for me to unsubscribe from
this list.

> And if you need one more reason to reply how's this?  My rational for
> requiring you to post is that the first post is often the hardest, but
> with each post it becomes easier.

Motivations really aren't important - whether one is motivated by virtue
or by greed, attempting to add conditions to Free Software is just plain
wrong.

Vic.