[ros-general] License issue with OpenSSL and ReactOS (GPL)

[Vizzini]

On Mon, 2004-02-23 at 02:47, Casper Hornstrup wrote:
> I'm still looking for any information on if the GPL has been challenged in
> court and if so, what was ruled. 

Nothing major that I know of; keep your eyes on the sco case, though.  

> Anyone got any information? Until the GPL
> has been challenged in court, I believe RMS is wrong and he is just trying
> to scare people of using free software with proprietary software because he
> screwed up when he wrote the GPL.

You have to recognize what RMS's motivation was/is:  he wants all
software to be Free.  It's not surprising that he would craft his
license to be extremely restrictive about non-free software, as a way to
encourage coders to re-write non-free stuff and release it as Free,
instead of just reusing the non-free version.  He believes that an
advertizing clause is restrictive of Freedom (which it certainly is by
his definition), and therefore non-free.  

I may not agree with his premise, but he certainly has done a good job
executing against his vision.  I certainly don't see the GPL as a
mistake.

 -Vizzini