Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/12/21/23:38:05
On Mon, 21 Dec 2015, DJ Delorie wrote:
>
>> Despite of all the huge amount of work the have invested, unless they make
>> the work really publicly available, I'd prefer not building on it.
>
> I.e. you want someone to either steal the work for you, or do a great
> deal of work on your behalf without any compensation?
Nope. As far as I understood, we are considering the very first step of a
roadmap. The first step is about how to pick a file format or data
structure. Peter proposed a specific standard and listed a lot of pros.
My point is only this: not having the standard freely available is a con
that we should not ignore.
>
> I don't think either of these are valid ways to run a project. The
> ISO standards are always copyright protected and sold for a fee;
> that's how ISO funds its operation. Much of the software you use
> today is built on ISO standards - including the C/C++ language that
> gEDA uses.
>
> The ISO standards are publically available, for a fee. They are not
> "proprietary" or "secret", just not "free of charge".
Ok, so if I buy it once, can I just include a copy in the documentation of
the software dostribution? I assume not. For me this makes it non-free,
not the price I paid for it.
And I do hate when this happens with any of the standards, including ANSI
or ISO standards, including C. I still do use C, but that doesn't mean I
have to like or deny the non-free aspects.
> So if you want to refrain from using this standard because you feel
> it's too expensive for you to purchase, fine. But please do not
> confuse the "free" in "free software" with "everything else should be
> available to me without charge too". Even the FSF charges a fee for
> its software, to fund its activities.
I did not say I wanted to refrain from using the standard because it was
expensive. It was your (mis)interpretation. I said a drawback of the
standard is that it is non-free (not mainly in the charge sense).
I am wondering how this thread went into the usual senseless geda flamewar
this fast...
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