Re: Not "Satanism;" realism.

[Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>]

At 05:33 AM 1/2/99 -0600, Steve Cohen wrote:

>You have made comments in other posts about Microsoft being able to
>clean-room GPL'd code.  Under the BSD license, however, they wouldn't even
>have to clean-room it, right?  So in this regard, why is BSD license
>better?

Because companies OTHER THAN Microsoft -- especially little guys without the
money to undertake a "clean room" operation -- can also use the code and can
compete with Microsoft on a level playing field. Microsoft's competitors are
helped more than is Microsoft, and the development of competitive products
are promoted. Thus, by releasing code under the BSD license, we can help 
restore the competitive marketplace we miss.

If we use the GPL, we disadvantage the little guy who does not have the
resources to "clean-room" or reimplement code, as Microsoft can.

--Brett