Re: C++ price
At 07:21 PM 6/20/00 +0000, Jason Leit wrote:
>>I know that you have just said that you are sick of free
>>compilers. However, have you tried the Gnu Compiler Collection - it
>>handles C, C++, Objective C, Fortran, Java and CHILL - while it may be
>>free, it is used successfully by thousands of developers world-wide.
>
>Yes.
>However, all these "thousands of developer world-wide" have one thing in
>common. They are forced by law not only to release their sofwtare free of
>charge, they are forced by law to do it by releasing the SOURCE CODE to any
>application compiled with a GNU compiler. You wrote
>a cool game with DJGPP? Then you are forced to distribute the full source to
>it when you sell your game.
Hi Jason!
Some of us consider this to be an advantage. ;)
Seriously though, I am embarrassed that I did not think to mention this.
Thank you for mentioning it.
I do almost all of my programming with open source tools - I forgot that
not everyone knows that Uncle Stallman has an interest in their source code
when they use GNU tools.
>And your publisher won't just "sit around and
>wait for the cows to come home", but will compile your source and sell the
>game as it's own.
Ah yes... however, then *they* need to worry about being sued by the Free
Software Foundation. The primary GNU license is viral in nature. If a
publisher redistributes open source code as their own application then they
have three problems:
1.) Moral - not a big issue for most of them...
2.) If caught, the FSF may sue them.
3.) Even if they make changes to the code, if they get caught, then that
code is legally open source - they lose their investment.
>Some publishers even have hackers employed to strip the
>names out of products from people that apply for something to be
>distributed, and sell it as their own.
This is a venerable tradition in the software industry. ;) Software
companies have used everything from industrial espionage to psuedo-legal
teams of 'virgin' developers in stealing others source code.
>So, GNU is great for hobby programming at home,
I don't agree with that - I feel that a lot of the infrastructure for
operating systems, languages, graphics engines, etc... should be licensed
in a fashion similar to the GNU license. I believe that open standards and
open source lead to better software for everyone. However, only time will
tell.
Note that I don't actually like *everything* about GNU/FSF - I feel that
their stand has become more dogmatic than pragmatic in nature as time has
passed. However, I do understand that it was/is an attempt to both free
the programmer and improve the state of the art.
>but the moment you place your app on the web, free or not, you are forced
>to place the source right next to it or you can get sued by the FSF!
For everyone who has an interest in this topic, drop by
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
Ciao,
Zak Greant
Creative Director
Nucleus Information Service Inc.
"I am rather like a mosquito in a nudist camp: I know what I ought to do,
but I don't know where to begin."
- Stephen Bayne
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