Re: Wanting opinions... -- widespread lack of UNIX history

["Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith@ieee.org>" <thebs413@earthlink.net>]

From: NZG <ngustavson@emacinc.com>
> Yes it is, but it is also reality.

I was just saying that the GNU project would not likely existed had the
lawsuit not occured or, in the case of Linux, been settled years earlier.
It was in response to your comment that you knew of no lawsuits against
BSD, and found Theo's comments laughable.

The reality is that the SCO lawsuit claims on Linux (although parts of
SCO v. IBM have merit outside of IP claims) are rather laughable to
those who have been deploying GNU for a long time

> The article tried to make the case that BSD could replace Linux.

It could.  In fact, the licensing on the kernel could allow more "superstore"
hardware to work than Linux does.  That's an issue that will _never_ be
solved in the GPL world, because a lot of hardware is software-based,
and licensed from 3rd parties.

> They cannot because they only support a subset of Linux's functionality.

There are areas of Linux that lack BSD functionality too.  It's all a matter
of perspective.  But yes, GNU and Linux get the development because of
the pre-1994 history and the resulting license post-1984.

> I realize there is a long sad story as to why this is, but nevertheless,
> it is the truth.

Just don't fight Theo's comments.  They aren't worth fighting.
If something doesn't make sense, defer it to those who do understand.



--
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org


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