From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Lam Pui Yuen To: Fergus Henderson Cc: Christopher Faylor , cygwin@sourceware.cygnus.com Subject: Re: Cygwin participation threshold Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 23:02:00 -0000 Message-ID: References: <19990225191420.16813@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU> X-SW-Source: 1999-02n/msg00815.html Message-ID: <19990228230200.EbbD8iilU3TdCco9DosQbuwZMe-0KJSwN23WvmCg9as@z> done ! On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Fergus Henderson wrote: > On 24-Feb-1999, Christopher Faylor wrote: > > On Thu, Feb 25, 1999, Fergus Henderson wrote: > > >Yes, but you can write and distribute proprietry applications or even > > >proprietry kernel modules for Linux without paying anyone a license fee. > > >The same is not true for Cygwin (although it *was* true once, back around > > >version b16, when it was called gnu-win32). > > > > True, but that is not the point. I believe this whold thread started > > because I lamented the lack of people contributing directly to cygwin > > development. > > You also asked why. I believe that licensing may be one of the reasons why. > So I don't think my comment is beside the point. You may disagree with me, > but I think we're talking about the same topic. > > > The many contributors to the linux kernel do not do so > > because it is possible to develop proprietary code for linux. > > That may not be their direct motivation, but I do think it is a > significant factor. I think that if it were impossible to develop > proprietry code for Linux, then Linux would have a much smaller user > base, and there would be far fewer contributors to Linux. > > > I don't consider companies who create proprietary kernel modules as > > contributing to linux development in any way. > > The ability to create proprietry kernel modules is of little importance. > The ability to create proprietry applications is of much greater importance. > > > Possibly they help indirectly > > by getting the word out about linux but that is a secondary and, IMO, very > > minor benefit. > > I agree that the benefits are indirect and secondary. However, > I don't think they should be ignored. > > In addition to getting the word out, companies which develop proprietry > applications (or kernel modules) often also help > > (1) by using Linux, and in the process sometimes reporting > and/or fixing bugs in the kernel and/or the various > open-source applications that are part of Linux; sometimes > they will even add whole new features which are needed for > their proprietry application (or module); and > > (2) by providing software (or drivers) which other people need, > and thus encouraging those other people to use Linux, > leading to the same benefits as (1). > > -- > Fergus Henderson | "Binaries may die > WWW: < http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh > | but source code lives forever" > PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3 | -- leaked Microsoft memo. > > -- > Want to unsubscribe from this list? > Send a message to cygwin-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com > > -- Want to unsubscribe from this list? Send a message to cygwin-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com