Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 17:05:42 -0600 From: Richard Stallman <rms@santafe.edu> If you want to use our code in non-free software, and leave your users (who would then be our users also) no freedom, it is understandable that you would ask for this. No, I simply don't want to discriminate against users who are writing proprietary software, i. e. I don't want to restrict the freedom of those users in the way that GPL does. Public Domain status denotes more freedom than GPL. It allows all of the freedom of GPL and in addition, it allows the freedom of making proprietary modifications. The results of the proprietary step may be less free than GPL, but the code placed in the Public Domain is still more free than the code released under the terms of the GPL. Rick