Re: [DotGNU]Changing pnetlib license to LGPL

[Mario D. Santana]

Rhys Weatherley wrote:
> I don't have any problem with making the change, but I
> want to get some feedback from the DotGNU community first.
> What are people's thoughts?

I think it's a good idea. It's exactly the sort of thing the LGPL was 
made for. The LGPL has fallen out of favor, I think, because there's 
enough GPL software that its benefits are outweighed by a moral 
preference for Free Software.

But in the context of a hot, emerging arena like webservices, there are
enough players interested in pursuing non-free solutions that the
compromise of the LGPL, and the temptation of using already-existing code
for no cost, could prove to be a powerful force for the standardization
of low-level bits on Free Software. Any worthwhile proprietary uses of
pnetlib would shortly be implemented in Free Software, as has happened
(and is still happening) in other arenas.

(For the record, I'm a GPL man myself. But I think proprietary software
can serve as a sane sort of de-facto patent system, where innovation is
encouraged and patents effectively expire when the innovations are
re-implemented in Free Software.)

Regards.

mds

-- 
Be braver -- you can't cross a chasm in two small leaps.