Re: Linus on commercial software

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Feb 03, 2000 at 01:53:06AM -0600, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> 
>         I just have to say this about the BSD styyle of licence: I had
>   a box on my desk till last month: it ran BSD software. But I had no
>   access to the sources, and I had to wait for months to get action on
>   bug reports, and upgrading the beastie cost several thousand dollars
>   (real money, by any account). So much for the myth of ``free'' BSD
>   software. 

Now you're coming down to the enforcing of the license. Are you saying 
that enforcing GPL is easier ? Since you're using a specific example
of BSD licensed software to prove that the BSD license is bogus, let 
me counter by citing a specific example where it works well - FreeBSD.

In any case, I use tons of BSD software and not only is the source 
distribution better organized than some of the GPL'ed software I use,
I can afford to update my sources more frequently - even once a day
and build everything from scratch.

http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/synching.html#CVSUP

Bugs ?

http://www.freebsd.org/support.html#gnats

Now, if the guy who gave you the BSD software didn't want to publish the
source, that's his prerogative. He is `free' to do as he wishes. Note that
he is no longer using the BSD license if he doesn't give you the source.

	-Arun