[GRASS5] Re: [Fwd: whinging about GRASS again]

[Mark P. Line]

Russell Nelson said:
> Mark P. Line writes:
>
>> So the statement that "public domain software is open source software"
>> is incorrect.
>
> Public domain software is open source software.  If you think it
> isn't, then we need to add "Educate Mark Line" to our TODO list.


Then I guess you need to add "Educate Richard Stallman" as well.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#PublicDomainSoftware

"Public domain software

"Public domain software is software that is not copyrighted. If the source
code is in the public domain, that is a special case of non-copylefted
free software , which means that some copies or modified versions may not
be free at all.

"In some cases, an executable program can be in the public domain but the
source code is not available. This is not free software, because free
software requires accesibility of source code. Meanwhile, most free
software is not in the public domain; it is copyrighted, and the copyright
holders have legally given permission for everyone to use it in freedom,
using a free software license.

"Sometimes people use the term ``public domain'' in a loose fashion to
mean ``free'' or ``available gratis.'' However, ``public domain'' is a
legal term and means, precisely, ``not copyrighted''. For clarity, we
recommend using ``public domain'' for that meaning only, and using other
terms to convey the other meanings.

"Under the Berne Convention, which most countries have signed, anything
written down is automatically copyrighted. This includes programs.
Therefore, if you want a program you have written to be in the public
domain, you must take some legal steps to disclaim the copyright on it;
otherwise, the program is copyrighted."


> I cannot tell you want you should want.  I can only tell you what I
> think is necessary for you to get what you say you want.  I can tell
> you that I hear constant complaints about the small size of the GRASS
> developer base.  If you want more developers, you need more users.
> That's how open source works.  If you're constantly worrying (as I can
> see Mark Line is) about keeping the number of users low so as not to
> overwhelm the developers, well, that's a losing proposition.

The number of GRASS users is not low by any stretch of the imagination.
I'm simply not eager to expand the user base to include naive and casual
users at any cost.


-- Mark

Mark P. Line
Polymathix
San Antonio, TX