From: Jim Cain <list@...>
Date: 2003-07-09T11:09:07+09:00
Subject: Re: My brief and torrid affair with Ruby.

Stephyn Butcher wrote:

> They don't call GPL a legal virus for nothing:

The problem with the term *virus* is that it implies malevolence. A 
virus imposes itself on its victim without consent. That is not the 
spirit of the GPL. The GPL is attached to something that is given away 
freely. Likewise, anyone is free to use it, or to choose some other 
solution.

If I decide to give you something for free, it is not unreasonable to 
ask that you, if you decide to accept and use it, also make any derived 
works available with the same freedoms from which you benefitted.

You are, of course, free to decline my offer. That is hardly a virus.