On Fri, 29 Aug 2003, Darren Reed wrote:
> In some mail from Valdis.Kletnieks_at_vt.edu, sie said:
> >
> > There's just one little problem with your logic:
> >
> > Unless the law specifically prohibits disclaimer of liability, there's no=
> > thing
> > illegal about a clause that does so. And in the best "be careful what yo=
> > u wish
> > for, as you may get it", you might want to go back and re-read clause 11 =
> > and 12
> > of the GPL, Version 2, and ask yourself if *ANY* GPL'ed software would ge=
> > t
> > released if that clause was illegal. If it was in fact illegal to discla=
> > im
> > liability, clause 7 would totally prohibit you from distributing it *AT A=
> > LL*.
> >
> > Then there's the issue of mom-n-pop software shops and small consulting
> > firms - they can't hide behind a "we're giving it away for free" clause i=
> > n the
> > hypothetical law, but they'd be insane to stay in business without softwa=
> > re
> > liability insurance. How many insurance companies are offering *THAT*
> > at rates a 2-5 person consulting firm can afford?
>
> I, for one, would not cry if the law made it impossible to sell or
> provide GPL'd software to people because it could not be provieded
> with a disclaimer.
For your information, the GNU General Public License is applicable in
the act of distribution.
Th warranty can be an additional contract between the buyer of a
service and the consulting firm. The GNU General Public License is a
method to protect the four freedoms of free software. It's not a
method to define a warranty...
> Sooner or later the software industry needs to grow up and take
> responsibility for the crap that it unloads onto the world,
> pretending it to be a product worth using. GPL software especially.
Don't mix the license used and the quality of a software product, this
is not linked. They are crappy software under the GNU GPL and they are
excellent software under the GNU GPL.
thanks,
adulau.
--
-- Alexandre Dulaunoy (adulau) -- http://www.foo.be/
-- http://pgp.ael.be:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x44E6CBCD
-- "Knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance
-- that we can solve them" Isaac Asimov
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Received on Aug 29 2003
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