Microsofts new way of bashing Linux

[Robert McWilliam]

On Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:24:41 +0800, "Michael T. Richter"
> 
> The statement above was, and I quote: "The GPL is there to protect your
> intellectual property."
> 
> Let's take the use case you've provided.  I make a super-keen sound
> system for Linux (to drag in another thread just to be a more effective
> troll).  I GPL it.  How, exactly, does the GPL protect my "intellectual
> property"?  Be specific.
> 

The GPL is not there to give you a way to make profit (though it doesn't
prevent you from doing so by selling services, selling the code to
people who want to use it but don't like the GPL(this one requires you
to own the whole app)...).

What the GPL is for is enabling a lot of people to collaborate to
produce something that none of them could produce individually. It
protects your intelectual property by providing a legal framework
forcing everybody to share their improvements (if they distribute them)
and preventing other people from selling your code under other licenses. 

Using the GPL in a business makes sense because you don't have to commit
all of the resources required to make something. The trade off for this
is that you have to share too. 

Robert
------------------ 
  Robert McWilliam
  rmcw at allmail.net
  www.ormiret.com

  The days of the digital watch are numbered.