does a free license make software free?

[Albert Dengg]

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On Fri, Sep 14, 2007 at 12:08:57AM +0200, chrysn wrote:
> Am 2007-08-29 11:20, Diogo Santos schrieb:
> > FSF considers Apache License 2.0 a Free Software License.
> > I consider that Apache license (and others), can be used in Free Software. But
> > due too it's weaknesses, using Apache License to license the software, isn't by
> > itself enough to consider the software under that license to be Free Software.
> > Maybe FSF sees it also this way, but calls it a Free Software licence, to
> > simplify. Does anyone from FSF wants to comment this? Is this it?
> >
> > I belive that althoug not intentional this is misleading. Maybe FSF should say
> > that Apache License (and other similar in that terms), maybe used to license
> > software copyrights, of Free Software, but isn't enough to consider it Free
> > Software.
> >   
> i think it is not a specific problem about the apache license -- you 
> could do the same thing even with gpl, i suppose.
> if you write a program on your own, you can distribute it under any 
> license without any obligations firing back to you; these first take 
> effect when you use foreign code. i think it is a general 
> misunderstanding about free licenses.
well, i think you are only partly right here: if you give somebody
something under the gpl specifically, you give the person certain
rights, among them (to put it simple) to get "the code" and so on. even
if you are the original author/copyright holder you would be forced to
fullfill the obligations (e.g. if you didn't distribute the code, to
make it avalible and so on) and you give the right to modify and
redistribute...so it would be free software...
(of course you could also distribute the same program under some
properitery license at the same time (maybe even to the same customer)).

of course with licenses like bsd there the customer would have a problem
if he does not get the source in the first hand.

yours
albert

PS: yes, i now i'm resumerecting this thread that is bit older...
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