Might as well get into some healthy religious debate, until MacBSD works
on my system.  :-)  (Brad, why do you list the IIvx as a 'supported'
configuration in your .sig?  The keyboard and mouse don't work!  You
have a curious definition of 'supported'.)

>The core of NetBSD follows the tradition of
>earlier Berkeley releases of not restricting the use of their code for
>basically any purpose.  As long as due credit is given.  If someone
>wants to make money off of hoarding their changes and selling it.  Fine.
>Let them try to keep up.  That's my opinion.

I'm honestly confused about this; I'm not trying to incite a debate.

If you place no legal bindings whatsoever on NetBSD/MacBSD, not even any
sort of a copyright, then it would be perfectly legal for somebody to
come along and make a few minor changes to the code, and place *his*
copyright on the whole thing, and make it *illegal* for you to
distribute NetBSD/MacBSD from then on.

I've seen this happen.  A programmer friend of mine was developing
Citadel and distributing it freely; then a company snatched it out of
his hands, put a copyright on it, began selling it, and argued in court
that this guy's policy of distributing it freely was cutting into their
sales.  The company won, and the programmer had to pay some amount of
royalties to the company, as well as promise that he would not continue
any work on the software nor allow it to be distributed.  Similarly, an
author friend of mine had freely distributed some stories he wrote until
a magazine published one of them, claimed a copyright on it, and legally
bound the author not to publish it nor any derivates of it in any other
magazines.

What is to prevent me from taking NetBSD, putting my name on it,
copyrighting it, selling it on disks, and threatening legal action
against anybody who gives it (or any derivates of it) away for free?
Sure, I would be treated as scum by lots of people around here, but even
scum make money -- look at Canter & Siegel.  :-b

(No, I'm not thinking of trying this, by the way.)


-- 
_/_/_/  Brian Kendig                              Je ne suis fait comme aucun
/_/_/  bskendig@netcom.com                 de ceux que j'ai vus; j'ose croire
_/_/                             n'etre fait comme aucun de ceux qui existent.
  /  Be insatiably curious.   Si je ne vaux pas mieux, au moins je suis autre.
 /     Ask "why" a lot.                                           -- Rousseau

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