It's starting to get like AOL around here!

(although I wonder if S.W. Bell realise the marketing potential that comes with having a divine client on the books)

Bruce : Consider that a number of people were already publicly making protests over clear GPL violations when I got here.

Bruce, I wasn't under impression those were protests; they looked to me as warnings about possible 'GPL zealotry' (OK, that's perhaps a tad too strong a word). What we got here was both 'zealotry' and 'anti-zealot zealotry'.

Why don't we just take Tony's viewpiont and consider this thread just a usefull explanation on GPL and related issues? It would really be sad if Bruce's intervention resulted in somebody abandoning open source software. After all, sticking to GPL is not difficult, nobody treatened anybody here, and Hugo and Bruce came to understanding quickly and easily.

Hugo, I really hope you will stick with Linux. I would really like to be able to tinker with my Empeg.

Let's keep cool heads, everybody, and let's not spoil good times we had here for months.

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
#5196

People use this forum to talk about wants, needs, problems, potential problems, potential solutions, and to indulge in the comraderie of early adopters who believed in Empeg as a concept before it was an actual product -- and believe even more in Empeg now that it's produced its first batch of units.

That's all that's happened here; this discussion was right on target as far as I'm concerned. Several valid points/perspectives were aired and I'm glad it occurred as I learned a few things about the GPL. I'm also thankful for the public discussion because its candid nature only serves to strengthen my belief in Empeg as a company; they didn't try to sweep this under the rug like many companies would. I value such open honesty...

As is the nature of early adopters, we tend to hack on things. Bruce's actions seek to keep that priviledge legally available and free. Empeg benefits directly from his work and we, the owners and potential owners, benefit from both Bruce's -AND- Empeg's work. Let's not forget that fact while slinging labels like "zealot" around. Were it not for the GPL and the people who protect their work under it, the Empeg would be more expensive than it already is due to the costs of compilers, shell tools, and other such things that big businesses (I'll name no names) tend to scarf up and sell at ludicrous costs to get THEIR fraction of the pie that someone else is actually earning.

Does a company have a right to charge you an arm and a leg for a tool? Yes.

Do you have alternatives to giving up your arm and your leg? Thanks to things like the GPL -- yes, but you have to do some things to support the GPL in return for what you get from it. They aren't hard to do ... they take a lot less time than writing your own tools ... and a lot less money than buying tools from (still unnamed) big companies. This is a no-brainer in my opinion...

-- Bleys


"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

Let's keep cool heads, everybody, and let's not spoil good times we had here for months

Thanks, Bonzi, I believe many of the happy empeggers share your feelings. Let's just say that the discussions have been interesting. Too bad that too many of us are disappointed now and look back on this issue with very mixed feelings.

I would like to suggest that we call a radio silence now on this subject, so we can lick our wounds. Let's not allow this issue to overshadow the fun we all had before this all started. There remain many more pleasant subjects elsewhere on this BBS.

Henno