Posted by: Charles Tryon
on April 25, 2005 09:37 PM
I think RMS makes an important point here. Even if a proprietary program is distributed for "free", the owner still maintains the right to pull the plug if the end user does something that upsets him. I won't try to argue whether Tridgell was right or wrong in what he did -- that's water over the dam now. What this case illustrates though is the ability of a proprietary software distributor to hold another project (free or not) hostage.
Fortunately, in this case, it looks like pulling out Bitkeeper will cause a noticeable delay in the kernel development, but nothing that can't be overcome. The whole situation has been messy, but it is still a lesson worth remembering.
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Important Point
Posted by: Charles Tryon on April 25, 2005 09:37 PMFortunately, in this case, it looks like pulling out Bitkeeper will cause a noticeable delay in the kernel development, but nothing that can't be overcome. The whole situation has been messy, but it is still a lesson worth remembering.
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