
Interview with L. Peter Deutsch of Ghostscript 31
Tsarnon writes "This is an interview of the L. Peter
Deutsch who wrote Ghostscript. Good discussion on free software liscensing issues. "
An interesting point Peter makes is that he shopped around for
a free softare project to do, rather than experiencing ESR's
proverbial itch to solve a given problem. He also discusses
thorny IP issues such as patents, copyright and the Aladdin
Public license.
I was wondering . . . (Score:1)
New times, new itches... (Score:1)
Well, it'd be kinda nice to have GNU tools for set-top boxes and "smart" toasters and the like. And maybe a Free Software substitute for stuff like Pro Tools or Delphi. And maybe a fully-open implementation of streaming audio and video standards (and compression algorithms)... The list goes on and on, and it will grow and grow in the future.
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Hooray for the not-news-but-not-widely-known dept! (Score:1)
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FSF copyright (Score:1)
The FSF requires that they own the copyright
to everything they distribute. That's OK as long
as you can trust the FSF to use that ownership to do only one thing
-- defend the license. As soon as they use the
copyright as an asset they damage the credibilty
of the FSF and every other piece of software they maintain.
Great Guy (Score:1)
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If I had used the AFPL on packet drivers.... (Score:2)
-russ
This looks familiar... wasn't it in ;login: ? (Score:1)
AFPL vs. GPL (Score:1)
The idea of software being free (as in beer) any paying for support doesn't work out in many cases, such as when a person or group of people write software then a larger unrelated company decides to support it, thereby eating the lunch of the developers.
Let's not forget... (Score:1)
We welcome business, of course we'll go out of the way to help people succeed in Open Source(tm) businesses. However, if Red Hat were to go out of business, or if Linus were to take up another hobby, there'd still be people working on Linux. We do not depend on any business for our survival.
Yes, Spencer Kimball and Peter Matthis aren't working on the GIMP any longer. However, the GIMP team is taking up the load, and other people are ready to put in free time just as Spencer and Peter did, as a way of paying back with their time for all of the free software that others have contributed. Frankly, after Spencer and Peter spent all of that time on the project, working on something else is not a bad idea.
We should not feel ashamed if we happen to have non-Open-Source jobs or if we even make non-Open-Source products. Not everything has to be Open Source, and if we can finance Open Source developments with income from our non-Open-Source enterprises, that's fine. I think an honestly non-Open-Source product is much less of a problem than a fence-sitter, a product that attempts to take advantage of the benefits of the Open Source community without really engaging in the full quid-pro-quo of Open Source.
I really have to wonder if GhostScript would not be developed faster if the main source thread was GPL-ed and many people worked on it instead of mainly Peter. It's worked for Linux.
Russ Nelson could have retired if he'd used the Alladin license on the packet drivers, but only because they are sold into a market where proprietary software is the norm. Linus could not have retired if he'd used the Alladin license on Linux, because he would not have had the tremendous free developer participation that comes with Open Source, which is the only thing that has made Linux successful.
Stig, all of your interviews are editorials. Editorials are OK. Interviews are OK. Mixing the two is not the best of journalism.
Thanks
Bruce Perens
Let's not forget... (Score:1)
What did we get from businesses like Sybase et al this year? Recognition and publicity. Many of them didn't even ship a product. They decided our market was going to become significant, and thus they'd better get on board and say so publicly rather than get left behind. We got all of the way to that point without them. If Sybase decides to turn away from Linux, it might be bad publicity but we will go on.
Bruce
Great piece, but what's that ending line? (Score:1)
Well it has. It's been way too much of a pleasure.
Well, it's probably a language thing, but could
anybody explain what he could possible mean by
that?
preach it, brother (Score:1)
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making money (Score:1)
AFPL vs. GPL (Score:1)
The interesting distinction that I caught for the first time was that Ghostscript was initially released GPL, but LPD retained the copyright (rather than assigning it to RMS and FSF). That way, he was within his legal rights to change the licensing to his new AFPL. Do I have this right?
I think he had a good itch. (Score:2)
The Java License is better than you think... (Score:1)
LinuxWorld published my analysis of the SCSL and I mention a few things about the SCSL that I like on my dev/Linux site [devlinux.org].
Stig
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dev/Linux (ORGanized, NETworked, COMmunity)
Let's not forget... (Score:1)
As for journalism? I write, but my degree says Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. I read books on business, psychology, and philosophy these days. I do not aspire to simply report on doings of others while avoiding all personal involvement. I do my best to not misrepresent others, but I will not suppress my own voice for the sake of "journalism."
Stig
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dev/Linux (ORGanized, NETworked, COMmunity)