Patch pinging

[Robert Dewar]

Richard Kenner wrote:
>> I do understand the rationale for the FSF's desire to hold copyright,
>> and have a paper trail.  But, at this point, I think that's making it
>> harder to people to participate, and with no real benefit.  The FSF is
>> clinging to an outmoded policy due to a single occurrence from long ago.
> 
> I disagree.  From what I see of the industry and its practices, I think the
> risk of an attack on Free Software due to lack of providence issues is
> INCREASING, not decreasing.  As FLOSS software makes more and more inroads
> into the commercial world, proprietary software companies will feel more
> and more threatened and the way most companies react to threats nowadays is
> via legal attacks.  We've had companies (e.g., SCO) in the past who
> transitioned from being software companies to legal firms.  It would not
> surprise me at all if one or more compiler companies did something similar
> in the next decade.

I fully agree with Richard on this point