Re: SGI releases IA64 C C++ and F90 compiler under GPL

[Stan Shebs <shebs at apple dot com>]

Linus Torvalds wrote:
> 
> I think the real question is more along the lines of "Who's going to
> convince the FSF and Cygnus to stop this stupid requirement of copyright
> assignments?".

Note that Cygnus no longer exists...

> The problem is not SGI.  The problem is the FSF's silly assignment
> requirements. RMS is the problem, not SGI.

I think the FSF policy is generally wise.  While it seems paranoid
at times, it's based on unfortunate experience with the nasty things
that corporations do.  I believe Joe Buck mentioned the past antics of
AT&T for instance, and of course there's the original Macsyma incident;
I remember the reading the announcement that Symbolics sent to all the
world, saying "the Macsyma sources are ours now, pay us money or delete
them from your machine", and being troubled by it - but they did have the
legal right to make the demand.

Since the copyright assignment has to be signed by a representative of
the programmer's employer, that means that a company can never come back
to the FSF and say "hey, you never had the right to distribute that code".

> Assigning your copyright to somebody else is _bad_. It means that
> somebody else can use your code without your permission.

What possible value could there be in my retaining ownership of little
pieces of GCC or GDB?  Indeed, the only use would be if I wanted to
cause trouble later.  So the fact that *every* contributor has relinquished
ownership assures me that my work won't get hung up in a legal battle
instigated by someone else.  I do need to trust that the FSF itself won't
sell out, but its board is a pretty trustworthy collection of individuals.

I really hope that Linux does not get hosed by its casual approach to
ownership.  It wouldn't take very much Microsoft-owned code in Linux to
provide them with an excuse to make you spend the rest of your natural
life in court, and if they win their antitrust case on appeal, as seems
quite possible, they will be free to deal with that pesky Linus as they
would like.  At that point the FSF will be looking pretty clever for having
insisted upon copyright assignments...

Stan