Doubt about license - ReadList.com

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Doubt about license
\ debian developer (3 May 2008)
. \ Ted Unangst (3 May 2008)
. \ Steve Shockley (3 May 2008)
. \ Jacob Meuser (3 May 2008)
. . \ bofh (3 May 2008)
. . . \ bofh (3 May 2008)
. . \ raven (3 May 2008)
. \ Jussi Peltola (3 May 2008)
. \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. . \ Otto Moerbeek (4 May 2008)
. . . \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. . . . \ Almir Karic (4 May 2008)
. . . . . \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. . . . \ Marco Peereboom (4 May 2008)
. . . . . \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . \ Marco Peereboom (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . . \ Marco Peereboom (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . . . \ Grumpy (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . \ Lars NoodÃ©n (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . . \ Otto Moerbeek (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . . \ chefren (5 May 2008)
. . . . . . \ Ted Unangst (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . \ Paul de Weerd (4 May 2008)
. . . . . . . \ Pieter Verberne (5 May 2008)
. . . . \ Otto Moerbeek (4 May 2008)
. . . . . \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. . . . \ chefren (4 May 2008)
. . \ Ray Percival (4 May 2008)
. . \ Ted Unangst (4 May 2008)
. . \ (Randal L. Schwartz) (4 May 2008)
. . \ Artur Grabowski (5 May 2008)
. . . \ Pieter Verberne (5 May 2008)
. \ Marc Espie (4 May 2008)
. \ Stuart Henderson (4 May 2008)
. . \ Pieter Verberne (4 May 2008)
. \ Martin Schröder (4 May 2008)

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Subject:	Doubt about license
Group:	Openbsd-misc
From:	debian developer
Date:	3 May 2008

Hello,

Let me make a few things clear. I am a newbie. I'm not a troll but a
seriously curious guy wanting to know.
I searched google but could not find any clear explanation. Please
point me in the right direction if this has been discussed before.
Please spare me the flames and do not reply if you find this
offensive... I'm just trying to know. :)
I am a great fan of Theo and RMS. I've been reading a lot on the BSD
license and GPL license lately.

I have a few questions(no, not which license is better.:):

1. BSD license is completely free. No one needs to give back changes
forcibly(the GPL way), hence this is completely free.
If what i hear is correct, there are companies(Microsoft) which
take BSD code (network stack i hear) and made it proprietary by not
giving back anything. What i don't understand is are we not loosing
anything in this case?? I can understand that there are many more
companies which have used the code(Apple) and given back but there are
also opposite ends...

2. I know many of you consider RMS a backstabber on the goals of
"freedom". What i don't understand is what is wrong in porting free
software to non-free platforms? Shouldn't people caged on non-free
platforms know about the power of free software?? When there is no one
to explain to them what free software is, does'nt this porting get
atleast a percent of them interested in a successful and superior free
software product(like firefox)?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.