Stallman said what? | The Coffeehouse

Ray7

Interesting piece on ZDNet concerning Richard Stallman's attempt to block the Oracle acquisition of MySQL.

In a letter sent to the EU, Stallman and his allies wrote:

Richard Stallman said:
MySQL uses the parallel licensing approach to generate revenue to continue the FLOSS development of the software. If Oracle acquired MySQL, it would then be the only entity able to release the code other than under the GPL…. As only the original rights holder can sell commercial licenses, no new forked version of the code will have the ability to practice the parallel licensing approach, and will not easily generate the resources to support continued development of the MySQL platform.

So Richard, are you really saying that when it suits you, selling software for money is okay?

littleguru
<3 Seattle

Well... I won't say anything... but... what did you expect...

W3bbo
The Master of Baiters

RMS has never had anything against selling software, even GPL software, because that's how business works. GPL is free as in freedom, not beer, and has always had a capitalist bent on it. ESR is a libertarian, not a communist, for example.

figuerres
???

Tired of Him.

yawn!

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

Richard Stallman Eats Something From His Foot

figuerres
???

In reply to Dovella

#Oct 24th @ 11:46 AM

DOVELLA YOU ARE WORSE THAN STALLMAN!

Please stop the snipes and crap!!!!!!!!!! really you are to much. chill out, slow down, something....

jon_potter
jon

In reply to figuerres

#Oct 24th @ 1:34 PM

Man cannot live by foot cheese alone.

rhm

In reply to W3bbo

#Oct 24th @ 8:39 AM

While that is true, insisting that buyers of software get all the source code and the right to redistribute it to whoever they want, makes that claim nonsense. You cannot give customers the rights of the GPL and still have a viable business that sells software. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't think of any business that releases GPL software and has that as their actual main sales income. They always either sell services (support) or hold back some important piece of the software that they sell under another licence, or they sell the same software under a non-GPL licence to people for whom the GPL restrictions are unsuitable.

Bass
www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/

In reply to rhm

#Oct 24th @ 2:44 PM

One can be pendatic and say you aren't selling software, you are selling a "license" to use it. But seriously if you make money from support or some other interesting trick, you are still making money from the software.

rhm

In reply to Bass

#Oct 24th @ 3:02 PM

Not really. Is the customer paying you money because that's the only way they get that software? That's the essential question of "am I selling software or something else?"

Bass
www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/

In reply to rhm

#Oct 24th @ 4:07 PM

Just because an author of software product demands a price for use, doesn't mean he will get it. BitTorrent has basically every single popular software product available for free.

And that's just you competing with an identical, free version of yourself. Proprietary software products often find themselves in competition with free products in general. So if you want to maximize your revenue, sometimes you have to be a little more creative then selling your software like it is a tomato.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

In reply to figuerres

#Oct 24th @ 1:34 PM

this is Stallman or not? is a fake?

figuerres
???

In reply to Dovella

#Oct 25th @ 1:23 AM

Dovella, in case you did not understand what i posted:

when you start posting the "microsoft is great" and "the rest are failure" posts you really get to be like the story of the "boy who cried wolf" ever hear that story?

or like the kid in the car who keeps asking "are we there yet?" and after a while his parents want to stuff a rag in his mouth to make him stop ... (no I do not want to do that but welll....)

the way you keep trying to hype windows and sling mud on everything thats not windows you become irritating and obnoxius and you really do not help anyone or anything. you run the risk of actually pushing folks away from even reading your posts as we start to figure it's all just more of the same mindless parroting of the same things again.

In this case linking to that video had nothing to add to the current thread. so it was a pointless jibe at the guy. childish and un needed.

Dodo
I'm your creativity creator™ :)

In reply to jon_potter

#Oct 24th @ 2:00 PM

It's still disgusting and unacceptable. Noone should take people acting this way in pulic the slightest bit seriously. Those who do are even worse. Therefore, I do not take Stallman seriously, and never will. If he does something public facing and pulls a stunt like that, he'd be out the door that split second in my book. There's viral marketing, but that's just wrong... No wonder noone credible likes "software freedom"... well, I better stop that now.