License needed!

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 10 Oct 1999, Bernhard Reiter wrote:

Bernhard,

> There only two possiblities: copyright a piece of work or release it as
> public domain.  The former allows you to state the licence under which
> it can be used and gives you the possibility to protect it.

 That's true. My comments came from my unfortunate experience as a shareware
author. I wrote a DOS database program for personal and small group
libraries. In the year I tracked it, there were over 800 downloads and 1
registration. And this was a copyrighted program, but I found that others
were copying it illegally.

> GRASS was never distributed under GPL or any other real license as far a
> I am aware of it.  It once came as public domain, which means, it wasn't
> copyrighted and unprotected. That lead to the abuse and locking up of
> source code people are generally referring to in the case of GRASS.

 I knew that years ago, GRASS was PD. I assumed -- incorrectly, you tell me
-- that it was not put under the GPL when Baylor took it over. In my
naievity, I would think that the release of version 5 is a very good time to
license it.
 
> I cannot see how that would help. Please read my old articles about that.
> The GNU General Public License (GPL) has been contructed by lawyers
> for the free software foundation. It is in its second version and the
> most proven free software license out there. I am not aware of any loophole.
> It is also recognised as the free software license giving most
> protection. 

  That may well be. From my few discussions with intellectual-property
lawyers, a license without loopholes is like a network without security
issues. It all depends on your point of view.

  Regardless, I vote for putting GRASS under the GPL. 

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

                       Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
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