Re: GPL and Nvidia

[Helge Hafting <helgehaf@aitel.hist.no>]

David Schwartz wrote:

>         I don't understand why making proprietary software better and cheaper than
> it would otherwise be is a bad thing.
> 
There's nothing wrong with doing that - but _I_ wouldn't work making
proprietary software better unless I got paid for it.

If linux had a BSD licence you'd get fewer developers, because some
would say "I don't want to do free work on a proprietary product
someone else sell & have exclusive rights to."

Of course readhat and others sell linux for money, but you can legally
copy
redhat software and re-sell it if you want to.  Thanks to the GPL.
Mandrake started out doing something like that, although they added
their
own improvements.  Competition in the free software world.

>         It will be better because it will have a stronger base to build on. It will
> be cheaper both because it will be easier to construct and because it will
> have to compete with free software that is more similar to it.
> 
A bit naive.  Software pricing do not reflect the cost of development at
all.
Windows is one example - with their volume they don't need to charge
much.


>         And, believe it or not, free software benefits as much from competition as
> proprietary software does.

Sure!  And free software compete with quite a few proprietary products
as you know.
But competition where the competitor gets to use all of your software
but
you can't use the competitor's software?  That's the kind of unfair
competition
you may get with a BSD licence.

Helge Hafting