From: Jim Cain Date: 2003-07-09T23:39:49+09:00 Subject: Re: My brief and torrid affair with Ruby. Rasputin wrote: > * Daniel Carrera [0714 03:14]: > >>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >>Hash: SHA1 >> >>On Wed, Jul 09, 2003 at 11:09:07AM +0900, Jim Cain wrote: >> >>>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. >> >>Exactly. The GPL does not *impose* anything. It sets a condition upon the use a >>pice of software. You have two choices: comply with the conditions, or don't use >>it. There is nothing viral about that. > > > The term 'viral' refers to the fact that if you want to use GPLed code, your code > must become GPL. So it spreads. They say good news travels fast, but good news is not a virus.