Re: [TCLUG:150] RE: X11Amp version 0.7

[Ben Kochie <ben@intexp.com>]

I havn't visited the X11amp home page in a long time, hehe.. i didn't know that
about m68k, and i never said anything about requiring anyone to include the
source, i just find that it makes more sense if you put out the source code if
you write a "free" application for linux, I understand if someone wants to make
some money off an application, but if you are going to make the thing free, why
not just release the source too, 

Back in Highschool, i used to spend hours programming apps in TI basic for the
TI calculators (wooo woo :)  It upset me when people took my apps, changed the
intro screen, and copied the app to their friends saying "they wrote it"  I
even remember one of my better TI85 games being COPYRIGHTED by some little
freshman.  that pissed me off.  I never went so far as to complicate my code so
that people couldn't change the intro screen, that kind of stuff wastes code,
and on a system with 32K of ram, you need to save every byte.  After the advent
of zshell, and cheep PC->calc cables, and the ability to edit-lock apps, i
still didn't, i wanted people to read my code, see how i pulled off some IMHO
cool tricks with the TI85, and see how small you can get programs to be. 
(that, and i was never satisfied with my own code :)  I sometimes got back a
version of my program where someone had removed 2 lines of code, and made it
better, and i would allwasy credit them.  I would also take other people's code
and spend time optimzing their code, and i would NEVER remove their name from
the intro screen.  the GPL takes those same ideas, and makes them more "legal"

On 10-May-98 James Hall wrote:
> And in what way does this *require* X11Amp to release their source
> code?  Just because gcc is available for free does not mean X11Amp must
> become an open-source project.  Nothing in the GNU GPL (which applies to
> gcc) says that programs that use GNU software as development *tools*
> (I'm not talking about using source code) must also be distributed under
> the GPL.  That would be the same as saying that if I write a document
> using Word '97, it is instantly owned by Microsoft.
> 

TTYL,
        Ben Kochie (ben@intexp.com)

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