Re: In praise of Ada Freeware

[Ted Dennison<dennison@telepath.com>]

In article <5PA97.12687$ar1.39620@www.newsranger.com>, Ted Dennison says...
>Just to further clarify, do you get the right to modify and redistribute the
>sources with this "VMS Freeware"? In the larger world you would generally not
>have either right with Freeware (as the sources aren't given to you in the first

To partially answer my own question, the example Larry quoted:
>> http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/FREEWARE40/TESTDEV/SRC/

If you go up a directory and look at the readme file, it explicitly gives
permission for distributing *verbatim* copies at no charge. But reserves all
other rights. The author probably intended to also allow the rights of running
it and of modification (although he did not do so). But it is certianly not
permitted to modify it and distribute the result, and that seems the clear
intent. 

That's probably fine for the small utility which this is. But for any large
program that must change to thrive, such a provision would fatally tie it to the
interest and lifetime of the original author. You have only to look at the state
of the c.l.a. FAQ at AdaHome, which has very similar license terms, to see what
that would mean in practice.

I'm being a bit unfair here, as this is but a single example. But if you mean
"Freeware" to include terms such as these, I would submit that your argument
would be better served by something at least a *little* more free. Again, I
think you *should* be shooting for (if you weren't already), "permissively
licensed" Free Software.

---
T.E.D.    homepage   - http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html
          home email - mailto:dennison@telepath.com