Re: Why is Nvidia given GPL'd code to use in non-free drivers?

Shane R. Stixrud
2003-01-04T02:58:39Z

On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Larry McVoy wrote:
> And therein lies the problem. You and RMS agree, in his world it is
> like getting your roof repaired or a new washing machine installed.

I only agree with RMS to a point. Something like google or Ebay would
still be very much possible in a world where most software was
GPLed/BSD/etc.. Why wouldn't it be?

> And we owe it all to Google. To my dieing day I will be grateful to the
> Google team, I shudder to think what it would have been like without them.
> And Google exists because Larry and Sergey want to be rich. It's as
> simple as that. They are extremely talented and dedicated people, I
> have nothing but respect for them. But it was clear that they were
> shrewdly building something they knew was valuable and they wanted to
> turn it into a business.
[snip]

For every Larry and Sergey, I am sure you know ten Tom, Dick and
Harry's who slave away doing amazing things at a large software
development house. Besides, my reading of the GPL suggests you only
need to publish source code _IF_ you distribute it to a 3rd party. In
house software development would not qualify.

>
> If they had known that if they built it and anyone could steal their
> technology because it was all free software, there is ZERO chance that
> they would have done it. They are bright people, they would have found
> some other way to use their talents. For me, it's a damn good thing
> that they live in our current world, not your world or RMS' world.
> Those are gray, boring, dull worlds. No thanks.
>

Again I don't see why Google or Ebay wouldn't exist in a Free Software
world nor do I see why Larry and Sergey wouldn't make a butt load.

I think it is important to remember that copyright law was not designed to
make you or anyone else "rich". Copyright law is concerned with
promoting societies progress.

Shane