No to MS deals

[Micah Cowan]

On Fri, 2006-11-10 at 12:49 -0800, George Farris wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-10-11 at 14:41 -0600, Steven Harms wrote:
> > I disagree, and it is clear this is not the place.  This is a
> > community counsel issue.  Please stop.
> > 
> 
> Well actually I'm not so sure about that.  The developers generally own
> the copyright on the code they are writing and contributing and if it
> involves that in any way, shape or form, then it is a development issue.

Is it about developing software on Ubuntu, at _all_? No, it is about
business-related decisions. Does it affect developers and their
software? Perhaps: that still doesn't make it a development issue.

It absolutely does not belong on the list that is specifically only for
issues related to Ubuntu development. Insisting that it is, is
completely absurd. We get enough noise on this list as it is, refusing
to stop adding to it after being requested to do so is rather
poor-spirited. Please take it to sounder.

The GPL makes it categorically impossible to take our code and somehow
make it non-free. It also makes it impossible to add code that would
make it non-free, and it also makes it impossible to add code that
requires a separate patent license that is restricted (despite MS
spokesmen's potential implications to the contrary). So this is really a
non-issue; but if you wish to continue discussing it, take it to where
it might be topical.

(I'm killfiling this thread now, so replies to this message on
ubuntu-devel will go unseen. I'll be happy to follow the thread on a
more appropriate forum, such as sounder.)

-- 
Micah J. Cowan
Programmer, musician, typesetting enthusiast, gamer...
http://micah.cowan.name/