[HOpenGL] Re: GLUT copyright violation

[Alastair Reid]

Ross Paterson <ross@soi.city.ac.uk> writes:
> I just believe that if an author gives us something, s/he should
> have some control over how their work is used.  I'd prefer to
> receive it with fewer conditions, but that is their decision.  It's
> a fair bargain.  A world run your way would be the poorer, with
> authors less likely to produce non-profit publications.

I think this argument is at least as important as the legal arguments.

If someone abuses or misuses a gift, the donor will be less willing to
give again (to them and, to a lesser extent to others) in the future.
If I see someone abuse a gift, I'm going to think twice before giving
that person a gift myself.

People on this list benefit hugely from gift giving (i.e., freely
available Haskell compilers and libraries) so we should take care to
use gifts in the spirit in which they are intended.  In this case, the
intentions are clear.  This means the gift is not as free as we'd like
but, still, the intentions are clear and we should abide by them.

--
Alastair Reid                 alastair@reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk  
Reid Consulting (UK) Limited  http://www.reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk/alastair/