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Subject:Re: Doxygen for commercial documentation? From:"Edgar D' Souza" <edgar -dot- b -dot- dsouza -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"Ethan Metsger" <emetsger -at- obj-sys -dot- com> Date:Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:47:10 +0530
On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 6:57 PM, Ethan Metsger <emetsger -at- obj-sys -dot- com> wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:48:14 -0500, Moshe Kruger (AllWrite)
> <moshe -dot- kruger -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > The GNU GPL limits the distribution of software. It seems, therefore,
> > that
> > your question seems invalid as far as documentation goes, for in the
> > case of
> > documention *no software* is distributed.
>
> I mentioned this off list, I think, but the GPL only applies to software
> released under its provisions. The documentation you create for your
> software is not governed by the GPL,
I can't help but wonder if the original poster, should he have been
using Microsoft Word, would have assumed that all documents created
using that word processor automatically belonged to Microsoft. Or that
all pictures he sketched using a pencil from Faber-Castell
automatically belonged to that company. To borrow an old quote
attributed to Charles Babbage: I am not able rightly to apprehend the
kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question!
It seems to me like the OP has been subjected to some not very
accurate "fundamentals" about open source and the GPL.
Actually, I would be more worried about a Microsoft EULA, which takes
away pretty much all my rights with respect to the software, **after**
I have broken the seal on the package (how's that for slick business
sense, boys?) and without acceptance of which the software just won't
install. Sure, open-source software has bugs. ALL software has bugs;
if you think yours doesn't, give me a week testing it...
muahahahahahaaaa!!! :-) Purely from the wallet point of view, though:
I don't pay a penny for open-source software; what, exactly, does
paying $$$ for proprietary software earn one? The privilege of calling
a helpdesk while being charged an additional rate of $$ per hour? Hah!
I don't really understand this suspicious attitude towards the GPL or
open-source software; that attitude, in my opinion, is what should be
directed at proprietary software.
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