posts/the-time-has-come-to-stand-up-for-the-gpl.en.html

   1 <!-- subject: The time has come to stand up for the {GPL} -->
   2 <!-- date: 2015-03-11 02:56:51 -->
   3 <!-- tags: DTRTvmware, vmware, gpl -->
   4 <!-- categories: Articles, Misc, Techblog -->
   5
   6 <p>For people who know me it should come with no surprise that I support free
   7   software in most forms it can take.  I also believe that if someone gives you
   8   something at zero price, basic courtesy dictates that you follow wishes of
   9   that person.  This is why when <a href=http://sfconservancy.org/>Software
  10   Freedom Conservancy</a> started
  11   a <a href=http://sfconservancy.org/linux-compliance/>GPL Compliance Project
  12   for Linux Developers</a> I didn’t hesitate even for a minute to offer little
  13   Linux copyright I held to help the effort.
  14
  15 <p>Most importantly though, it is why I fully support Conservancy in
  16   <a href=http://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/>taking
  17   legal action against VMware</a> which for years has been out of
  18   compliance with Linux’s license.
  19
  20 <p>If you care about free software, the GPL or want more projects like OpenWrt,
  21   <a href=http://sfconservancy.org/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html>consider
  22   donating</a> to help Christoph Hellwig and the Conservancy with
  23   their legal battle against this multi-billion-dollar corporation who
  24   for some reason decided to free-ride on other people’s work without
  25   respecting their wishes.
  26
  27 <p>If you can’t or don’t want to donate, twitting something along the lines of
  28 ‘<q>Play by the rules, @VMware. I defend the
  29 <a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/GPL>#GPL</a> with Christoph &amp;
  30 <a href=https://twitter.com/conservancy>@Conservancy</a>. <a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/DTRTvmware><abbr>#DTRT</abbr>vmware</a>
  31 Help at https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/</q>’ or otherwise spreading the
  32 word will help as well. Oh, and in case you were, like I was, wondering — DTRT
  33 stands for ‘do the right thing’.
  34
  35 <p>And if you want to know more:
  36 <ul>
  37   <li><a href=https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/>Press release</a>
  38   <li><a href=https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/635290/6a2b6d0337598cff/>LWN article</a>
  39 </ul>
  40
  41 <!-- COMMENT -->
  42 <!-- date: 2015-03-15 09:00:37 -->
  43 <!-- nick: rozie -->
  44
  45 <p>Are there any other ways to help, exept donation?
  46
  47 <!-- COMMENT -->
  48 <!-- date: 2015-03-16 20:37:40 -->
  49 <!-- nick: mina86 -->
  50 <!-- nick_url: http://mina86.com -->
  51
  52 <p>Spread the word.
  53 <p>Conservancy suggest something like <q>‘Play by the rules, @VMware. I defend
  54 the #GPL with Christoph &amp; @Conservancy. #DTRTvmware Help at
  55 https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/’ be put on your blog or microblog.