Miscellaneous > The Lounge
If YOU were in charge of M
voidmain:
Well, I have to sort of agree with Chaos on this one. I believe you can steal open source code. If you take GPL code, make proprietary software out of it and sell it without including the source then I would say that is stealing. You've basically broken the license agreement.
Master of Reality:
i would also put twenty dollar bills in the washrooms to wipe your ass with.
lazygamer:
Well no offense taken, some of us just have BIG problems getting this seemingly simple concept.
Calum:
well, i suppose in a way it is stealing, since it's certainly illegal and immoral (whipping stuff from the GPL and using it outwith your legal entitlement) but didn't voidmain tell us a while ago that this rarely happens, since there would be a big scandal about it?
Also, it is not technically stealing since the coders cut their code loose to a certain degree when they gpl something. This however makes it morally WORSE to actually use such code illegally in my opinion.
No matter what i have to say on the matter, i still think the stallman essay i link to above explains it best.
voidmain:
Yes, they open their code up and the intent of GPLing it is to make sure it stays open. If someone takes it and closes it up and redistributes it without the source code included they have broken the GPL which is illegal (and similar to stealing if you ask me). And Calum, you are correct I said that it would rarely happen, and I stand by that because the person/company that were to do that would be found out one way or another and prosecuted/heckled for it. Stallman's vision is a good one, and that is to ensure source code is included with any binary code so that you have the freedom to customize the code in any way you choose for your purposes. His fight is against proprietary closed source software. The GPL ensures the code stays open.
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