Re: [Fsuk-manchester] RMS on Swedish Pirate Party vs Free Software

[Paul Waring]

Simon Ward wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 04:06:17PM +0100, Pater Mann wrote:
> > Simon Ward wrote:
> > > All software, regardless of how it is licensed during the
> > > copyright term, should become free to the public.
>
> > should be protected such that it will always remain free software and
> > cannot be exploited by commercial companies for their own gain
>
> When copyright expires I don’t believe free software and proprietary
> software should be treated any differently:  The software becomes free
> for _everyone_, free or proprietary.

Assuming of course that parts of the software aren't covered by other 
areas of intellectual property, such as patents or trademarks. Also, 
what happens if the source code is made available but not other 
components, such as images or database schemas? I could put the source 
code for sites I've worked on in the past into the public domain, but 
without the extra parts you wouldn't be able to run it.

Paul

--
Paul Waring
http://www.pwaring.com