Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 10:21:42 -0600 From: Richard Stallman <rms@santafe.edu> It isn't surprising that people who want to write non-free software are disappointed that the GNU project won't help them. What is amazing is that they feel this is unfair. They have no intention of letting me use their source code in my programs--so why should they be entitled to use my source code in their programs? These people seem to think that their selfishness entitles them to special treatment. This is faulty logic. I may wish to write some code for free, that is, have the intention of letting you use my source code in your programs, and to write other code for profit. If I want to write something for free, I'd like it to be free for any purpose, including commercial purposes, thus the GPL is inappropriate. I would vastly prefer that people simply place their code in the public domain explicitly. Rick