Re: Possible GPL Violation of Linux in Amstrad's E3 Videophone

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 08 October 2004 03:15, Jon Masters wrote:
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>jmerkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>[ Would you please quite removing the attribution from mailing list
>posts? I know you don't care to keep it in the kernel, but at least
> let people know who said what in this completely pointless
> thread... ]
>
>Jesper>>| There are other rewards than money.
>
>jcm>> Al summed it up quite well earlier. Jeff probably wants to get
> the jcm>> lining on his tinfoil hat thickened to avoid the brain
> lazers getting in
>jcm>> any further. Check those bushes for Novell snipers too - you
> never know
>jcm>> when they'll pop out and come to get you, like everyone else
>everywhere.
>
>*Strong medication*. Very strong. Now with added eucalyptus! It'll
> make removing all that code easier. Ya know, you don't like cdrom
> support in your kernel (and claim it corrupts memory on your SuSE
> box...that's cute) but I've never much like memory management or
> CPU support in my kernel. I say you rip out everything under
> kernel/ and mm/ just in case. After all, Novell operatives might
> have secretly corrupted it, eh? ;-).
>
>|>50,000USD is a patheticly small amount to pay for the kernel,
>|> there's nothing wrong with the current licensing model, and
>|> people already make big bucks from Linux. Several of those aren't
>|> just dot-coms that went tits up later either - and most of them
>|> emply core kernel hackers.
>
>I meant that too. Just think about it - with the number of
> contributors in the kernel you'll have to offer a lot of money
> before even a few of them start to hear cash register sounds in
> their head. I expect it is graphable, but I've never actually that
> eye-rolling-dollar-sign thing that happens in the various cartoons.
> By the time it's diluted down, is the guy entitled to 0.05 cents
> really going to be suddenly convinced that all this time he was
> secretly after money but didn't realize it?
>
>| Not for a license to a single snapshot of a single 2.6.X or 2.4.X
>| version.
>
>I'd argue that the kernel is entirely priceless. It's better than
> that, more advanced, now extra-caffeinated with added pro-V
> complex!
>
>| I agree this isn't about money.
>
>...oh but you think this pointless endeavour of yours will actually
> get you somewhere other than in even more killfiles. I really
> shouldn't feed the troll but it's oh so hard to resist. I mean, you
> seem like a fun crazy sort of guy. So far I've seen:
>
>~    *). Intense bitterness at Novell.
>~    *). Signs of paranoid delusion.
>~    *). A fundamental missunderstanding of the GPL.
>~    *). Various other random craziness.
>
>Tell me, Mr Jeff, of various mail domains (does that make you feel
>bigger and better than the rest of us?) are you funded by Microsoft
> to suggest this stuff or do you truly believe it? Really? Truly? I
> mean, I'd much rather hear you're being paid to say this shite.
>
>| It's about control and using the GPL to control what happens.
>
>...by undermininging it and opening the floor to bribary. What would
>those damn Novell snipers say about that?
>
>| The offer is for real.
>
>I doubt that greatly. Actually no, I don't. I believe there are
> crazy people in the US with lots of money who'll think this is a
> good idea.
>
>Jon.

Yeah there are Jon, and his initials are probably BG.  I've been 
following this thread, first in amazement, followed by disbelief, 
since it started yesterday, and the only thing my 6th sense is 
telling me is that this is an attempt to undermine the GPL by someone 
like M$ so that they can take it to court and successfully render it 
moot.

At one point he's talking about $50,000 for a snapshot, then next he's 
saying $50,000 per copyright holder, and how that would end up being 
millions.  A new story with almost every message, and coming from 
several addresses, at one point from drdos.com, so I went over to see 
if he was actually listed there but couldn't find a reference. Ditto 
for the *panogas address.  And I haven't looked at comcast as that is 
an ISP with several million addresses IIRC.

This old (70, and more user than coder now) fart associate member of 
the FSF is more and more convinced he's a troll, out only to 
contaminate the GPL and a few million to do that is just chicken feed 
to his backers.  And make no mistake, the sucessfull contamination of 
the GPL could be worth many billions of dollars to M$ et all.  Thats 
the most obvious 'SWAG' candidate as the real source of all this 
largess.

My $0.02: Deal with the likes of him at the peril of the GPL.

Here's another question that needs answered too, why the hell isn't 
Linus in the To: or Cc: list?  (He is now!) After all, his approval 
would be the first thing you would need, isn't it Jeff?  Again, one 
more clue that this looks like the fox, trying to sneak in under the 
henhouse radar.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
99.27% setiathome rank, not too shabby for a WV hillbilly
Yahoo.com attorneys please note, additions to this message
by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2004 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.
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