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Public Domain Python

Remco Gerlich scarblac-spamtrap at pino.selwerd.nl
Sat Sep 9 21:59:18 EDT 2000 
Tom wrote in comp.lang.python:
> That does put a kink in my enthusiasm.  So, if Python isn't public domain
> then why does the Python community have that good, Linux-like, public
> spirit.

Linux isn't public domain at all! Linux is under the GPL, the GNU license;
it uses copyright to ensure that everyone can use the software and change it,
*as long as the results are still GPL* (or something like that - there are
details, read the thing).

> By your definition, is C++ (my previous language) public domain?  Or does
> AT&T hold a copyright?

A language is neither in the public domain nor out of it. Implementations are.
None of the examples I know (like Visual C++ and gcc) are in the public
domain.


-- 
Remco Gerlich,  scarblac at pino.selwerd.nl
  Murphy's Rules, "Butterfingers!":
   In Hero Games' Champions, the probability of an average person being
   able to grab something off the table (such as a soft-drink bottle) is
   25 per cent.
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