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Python is better than free (was Re: GNU wars again)

Steve Holden sholden at holdenweb.com
Tue Oct 2 10:52:31 EDT 2001 
"Paul Miller" <paul at fxtech.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1002031212.31017.python-list at python.org...
>
> >On Mon, Oct 01, 2001 at 11:04:25AM -0700, Cliff Wells wrote:
> > > It's free, and you're free not to use it if you don't want your code
to be
> > > free. It's called a trade-off. You get the combined efforts of
> > thousands of
> > > GNU programmers to help you solve your problem, and in turn you
provide
> > your
> > > little bit of help back.
> >
> >Nice said, Cliff!
>
> If GNU code is FREE, then I'll have to say that Python (and code under
> BSD-style licenses) is BETTER THAN FREE. Frankly, I'm very grateful to
> Guido for allowing Python to be used freely in commercial software.
>
Interestingly the current Python license is GNU-compatible, which means that
Python can be safely used as a component in GPL'd systems. But that doesn't
mean that Python is only availabel under the GPL -- simply that if you
distribute Python as a component of your GPL'd system then anyone who
distributes a derived system must also make their (possibly-modified) source
available.

Viral? Not to the extent you (and Microsoft) appear to believe.

regards
 Steve

--
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