Re: Free software movement similar to Islam?

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   The GPL is indeed a piece of ideology. Don't most groups have
   ideologies?

The GNU GPL is a license, not an ideology.

   I happen to _have_ read it. It only _advises_ that copyright of
   contributions be signed over to the primary developer/team or made
   public domain.

It doesn't say such a thing.  It notes (see the `How to Apply These
Terms to Your New Programs' section) that if you are employed that you
should get a disclaimr fromt he employer, but the GNU GPL doesn't
advise anything about copyright assignments.

The FSF requires copyright assignments for GNU projects so that the
FSF can enforce the GNU GPL legally if there is such a need.

   Remember that to contribute to a GPL program, you are implicitly
   drawing on the codebase _already there_, so you really don't have
   that many rights over your own code, unless you want to take it and
   remake the other 99% of the app from scratch.

Wrong, you hold copyright automaticlly over any code you have written,
even if you modified a GPLed program.

   Contrast to the situations of developers on the team for
   proprietary software. _They_ are the ones who are stripped of their
   rights over their work, which gets signed over to their employers
   in return for mere money.

The users are also the ones who are stripped of their freedom.

   Notice the Koran is distributed under a 'license' that it may _not_
   be modified, as is the Book of Revelation.

Wrong, the Koran and the Book of Revelation are in the public domain.
The _layout_ and _typesetting_ of various copies of the Koran and the
Book of Revelation can be copyrighted though.

   Islam is not evil. Its interpretation has indeed caused many
   problems throughout history, but the same is true of all major
   religions.

So has the interpretation of Christianity, and still does...

   Conclusion: You are ignorant about the Free Software movement,

He didn't speak about free software, but open source.  Two different
movments.