Mail to the FSF

[theUser BL]

Hi!

I have now send the following mail to the FSF ([e-mail]) with the subject 
"legality of using closed-source programs with completly GPLd ReactOS".

Greatings
theuserbl

Here the mail:
> Hi!
>
> There existing a project, which want to rewrite MS-Windows NT, which is 
> called ReactOS.
> You can see the home of the project at http://www.reactos.com/
>
> The idea is, to have an OS, which can run all MS-Windows NT programs, which 
> can make use of > all the drivers, which exists for WinNT and so on.
>
> But the problem is, that the complete OS is under the GPL.
>
> The people behind the ReactOS-project don't see a problem in using 
> closed-source
> programs/libraries/drivers on top of their OS.
>
> But what do _you_ think about it?
>
> I have now mentioned the problem ob their mailingliste at
> http://reactos.com:8080/archives/public/ros-general/2004-February/000736.htm...
>
> But I think, it would be nice, to here a comment of licensing-competent 
> people. So, what do _you_ > think about this?
>
> Greatings
> theuserbl

_________________________________________________________________
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[Vizzini]

I can see that this project is going to need some sort of official
statement about its license interpretations.  I'd be glad to write
something up when I get time, but if anyone wants to take a stab at it,
please do.

While we're at it, we need to write down our unwritten policies about
patents, copyrights, trademarks, reverse engineering, and so on.

-Vizzini

On Tue, 2004-02-24 at 07:30, theUser BL wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I have now send the following mail to the FSF ([e-mail]) with the subject 
> "legality of using closed-source programs with completly GPLd ReactOS".
>
> Greatings
> theuserbl
>
> Here the mail:
> > Hi!
> >
> > There existing a project, which want to rewrite MS-Windows NT, which is 
> > called ReactOS.
> > You can see the home of the project at http://www.reactos.com/
> >
> > The idea is, to have an OS, which can run all MS-Windows NT programs, which 
> > can make use of > all the drivers, which exists for WinNT and so on.
> >
> > But the problem is, that the complete OS is under the GPL.
> >
> > The people behind the ReactOS-project don't see a problem in using 
> > closed-source
> > programs/libraries/drivers on top of their OS.
> >
> > But what do _you_ think about it?
> >
> > I have now mentioned the problem ob their mailingliste at
> > http://reactos.com:8080/archives/public/ros-general/2004-February/000736.htm...
> >
> > But I think, it would be nice, to here a comment of licensing-competent 
> > people. So, what do _you_ > think about this?
> >
> > Greatings
> > theuserbl
>
> E-Mails sind zu unpersönlich? Mit einer Webcam wird der MSN Messenger zum 
> Bildtelefon! http://www.msn.de/messenger Jetzt kostenlos downloaden und 
> mitmachen!
>
> ros-general mailing list
> [e-mail]
> http://reactos.com/mailman/listinfo/ros-general

[Robert Köpferl]

Go into more detail.

Vizzini schrieb:
> I can see that this project is going to need some sort of official
> statement about its license interpretations.  I'd be glad to write
> something up when I get time, but if anyone wants to take a stab at it,
> please do.
>
> While we're at it, we need to write down our unwritten policies about
> patents, copyrights, trademarks, reverse engineering, and so on.
>
> -Vizzini
>
> On Tue, 2004-02-24 at 07:30, theUser BL wrote:
> > Hi!
> >
> > I have now send the following mail to the FSF ([e-mail]) with the subject 
> > "legality of using closed-source programs with completly GPLd ReactOS".
> >
> > Greatings
> > theuserbl
> >
> > Here the mail:
> > > Hi!
> > >
> > > There existing a project, which want to rewrite MS-Windows NT, which is 
> > > called ReactOS.
> > > You can see the home of the project at http://www.reactos.com/
> > >
> > > The idea is, to have an OS, which can run all MS-Windows NT programs, which 
> > > can make use of > all the drivers, which exists for WinNT and so on.
> > >
> > > But the problem is, that the complete OS is under the GPL.
> > >
> > > The people behind the ReactOS-project don't see a problem in using 
> > > closed-source
> > > programs/libraries/drivers on top of their OS.
> > >
> > > But what do _you_ think about it?
> > >
> > > I have now mentioned the problem ob their mailingliste at
> > > http://reactos.com:8080/archives/public/ros-general/2004-February/000736.htm...
> > >
> > > But I think, it would be nice, to here a comment of licensing-competent 
> > > people. So, what do _you_ > think about this?
> > >
> > > Greatings
> > > theuserbl
> >
> > E-Mails sind zu unpersönlich? Mit einer Webcam wird der MSN Messenger zum 
> > Bildtelefon! http://www.msn.de/messenger Jetzt kostenlos downloaden und 
> > mitmachen!
> >
> > ros-general mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > http://reactos.com/mailman/listinfo/ros-general
>
> ros-general mailing list
> [e-mail]
> http://reactos.com/mailman/listinfo/ros-general

[Vizzini]

On Tue, 2004-02-24 at 17:31, Robert Köpferl wrote:
> Go into more detail.
>
> Vizzini schrieb:
> > I can see that this project is going to need some sort of official
> > statement about its license interpretations.  I'd be glad to write
> > something up when I get time, but if anyone wants to take a stab at it,
> > please do.

What I meant is that we get *lots* of licensing-related questions.  We
need to sit down and write up a statement about how this project is
licensed.  We really do need to get this stuff in shape soon.
> > While we're at it, we need to write down our unwritten policies about
> > patents, copyrights, trademarks, reverse engineering, and so on.

What I meant: we have some unspoken and unwritten policies about things
like reverse-engineering.  Anyone who's been around for long enough has
certainly knows the score.  However, we get enough of these questions
that someone is going to have to write something down.  I'll do it when
I get to it, if nobody else does first.

-Vizzini