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Subject: |
Re: 'General Public' or 'General, Public'? |
Date: |
Fri, 14 Jun 2002 09:47:25 -0600 (MDT) |
General: because it applies to various kinds of software?
It does apply to various kinds, but that is not particularly an
intended meaning.
The best meaning now is that it can apply to any software package.
Public: because it's designed to be used in software distributed publicly,
as opposed to in-house projects?
Because it gives rights to the public.
We would be grateful for short clarification, as it's possible someone
may ask what's the origin of the name of GPL.
The *origin* is a separate question. Unfortunately, I don't remember
the answer, which means nobody knows it. Perhaps I was thinking "This
is a license for the general public." At that time, that interpretation
of "general" was the only possible one.
However, today the most useful interpretation of "general" is the other one,
that you can release your own programs under it and anyone can use it.
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