Permission to use portions of the recent GNU Emacs Manual

Robert J. Chassell bob at rattlesnake.com
Tue Dec 14 09:09:32 EST 2004


    ... with the electronic forms of the manuals, the GPL appears more
    appropriate to me.

What specifically of the current form of the GFDL, as it applies
electronically, do you not like?

For example, I do not like the language in the license that talks of
publishing printed copies.  This suggests that `publisher' means only
`printed copy publisher'.  I would prefer to see the term `publisher'
be more general.  However, I do not know whether the term is necessary
for legal purposes.  My sense is that commercial restrictions should
apply to those who publish using `non-recoverable or rivalrous
resources',like spending resources to get attention, using printed
paper, or stamped CDs.  But I am not sure my language is right,
either.  (Note that technological change may decrease the cost of
vehicles -- something may replace printed paper or CDs -- but nothing
can reduce the cost of attention getting.)

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         
    bob at rattlesnake.com                         GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  http://www.teak.cc




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