[vorbis] Is GNU tested, I doubt it..

[Chris Hanson]

At 1:58 AM -0700 10/27/00, Tom Bishop wrote:
>Although there seems to be a strong implication on other's part
>the GNU is God or something..

As with any contract, unless you have direct evidence to the 
contrary, counsel that agrees with your evidence, and a solid defense 
prepared for the inevitable lawsuit, you MUST assume that a software 
license agreement is binding.

>But you are correct, I doubt if GNU or ANY contract would
>ever be found totally valid by any court.  Courts aren't like that,
>and they, as the laws, vary from locality to locality.

The emphasis, of course, is on YOUR doubt.  I believe the GPL will 
hold up pretty well, particular considering the directions that 
copyright law and other law pertaining to intellectual property 
privileges are taking.

>I am sorry if this speculation is uncomfortable for everyone.. but
>it seems best to know what the world is really like as opposed
>to the way one thinks it is...

The way the world really works is that most people are honest and 
well-intentioned and will assume, unless presented with very strong 
evidence to the contrary, that a contract or license agreement is 
valid on its face.

Are you trying to convince people they shouldn't behave this way?  If 
so, why?  What do you gain from it?  Anyone who's applying an Open 
Source or Free Software license to their code already understands 
that these licenses have not yet been tested in court and that there 
may be some risk involved in using them.  I don't think you're 
exploring any new ground.

   -- Chris


-- 
Christopher M. Hanson <cmh at bDistributed.com>
President & CEO, bDistributed.com, Inc.
Developers of database-backed web sites and Mac software
(847) 372-3955

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