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On Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL On Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL
,----[ Quote ]
| When I co-signed the letter objecting to
| Oracle's planned purchase of MySQL 1 (along
| with the rest of Sun), some free software
| supporters were surprised that I approved
| of the practice of selling license
| exceptions which the MySQL developers have
| used. They expected me to condemn the
| practice outright. This article explains
| what I think of the practice, and why.
|
| Selling exceptions means that the copyright
| holder of the code releases it to the
| public under a free software license, then
| lets customers pay for permission to use
| the same code under different terms, for
| instance allowing its inclusion in
| proprietary applications.
|
| We must distinguish the practice of selling
| exceptions from something crucially
| different: proprietary extensions or
| proprietary versions of a free program.
| These two activities, even if practiced
| simultaneously by one company, are
| different issues. In selling exceptions,
| the same code that the exception applies to
| is available to the general public as free
| software. An extension or a modified
| version that is only available under a
| proprietary license is proprietary
| software, pure and simple, and no better
| than any other proprietary software. This
| article is concerned with cases that
| involve strictly and only the sale of
| exceptions.
`----
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions
The State of PostgreSQL: Not So Easy to Kill
,----[ Quote ]
| In fact, PostgreSQL as a project is pretty
| healthy, and shows how vulnerable projects
| like MySQL are to the winds of change.
| PostgreSQL could die tomorrow, if a huge
| group of its contributors dropped out for
| one reason or another and the remainder of
| the community didn't take up the slack. But
| that's exceedingly unlikely. The existing
| model for PostgreSQL development ensures
| that no single entity can control it, it
| can't be purchased and if someone decides
| to fork the project, the odds are that the
| remaining community would be strong enough
| to continue without a serious glitch.
`----
http://ostatic.com/blog/the-state-of-postgresql-not-so-easy-to-kill
Recent:
Why I will not sign the MySQL petition
,----[ Quote ]
| If you sell something, you donât own it any
| longer. MySQL is now SUNs business. And if
| SUN decides to sell themselves to Oracle â
| it is their business. If the MySQL founders
| and fanboys donât like this, they simply
| shouldnât have sold MySQL to SUN in the
| first instance.
`----
http://jan.wildeboer.net/2010/01/why-i-will-not-sign-the-mysql-petition/
Monty Widenius wants another billion dollars, should we help him?
,----[ Quote ]
| What does âHelp MySQLâ advocate, in a
| nutshell? It claims that if Oracle were to
| merge with Sun, MySQL customers would be
| trapped in a market that would be pretty
| much controlled and captured by Oracle,
| both through its existing propietary
| databases offerings and the acquisition of
| MySQL. Another issue explained on the web
| site is that the inherent free and open
| source nature of MySQL will not be enough
| to grant effective freedoms to the market
| since Oracle would be the sole copyright
| owner of the code and trademarks.
`----
http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.php/2010/01/05/monty-widenius-wants-another-billion-dollars-should-we-help-him/
MySQL: decision time is nigh
,----[ Quote ]
| Is Oracle keen on MySQL because of the
| market control? Or is it because Oracle
| sees MySQL as a means to possibly defeat
| Microsoft's ambitions in the database
| market, where its SQL Server product is
| used for similar purposes as MySQL?
|
| The only person I've noticed who mentioned
| this is Eben Moglen , a well-known legal
| figure in free software circles.
|
| But anyone who knows anything about the
| history of the computer industry is aware
| of the intense animosity between Oracle
| supremo Larry Ellison and Microsoft co-
| founder Bill Gates.
|
| At the level at which these men operate,
| money isn't a consideration. Power is,
| rubbing one's competitor's face in the mud
| is, especially when there is past
| animosity. Here is just one example of how
| much Ellison dislikes Microsoft.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30340&Itemid=1090
Why MySQL's creator thinks IBM could acquire the database
,----[ Quote ]
| A quick review of Save MySQL online petition
| stats shows that the results are still in
| line with the results I reported previously.
| Over 90 percent of petition signees would
| require Oracle to divest MySQL to a "suitable
| third party."
`----
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/why-mysqls-creator-thinks-ibm-could-acquire-database-185
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