Cygwin participation threshold

Thu Feb 25 01:00:00 GMT 1999

done !
On 1999年2月25日, Fergus Henderson wrote:
> On 24-Feb-1999, Christopher Faylor <cgf@cygnus.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 25, 1999, Fergus Henderson wrote:
> > >Yes, but you can write and distribute proprietry applications or even
> > >proprietry kernel modules for Linux without paying anyone a license fee.
> > >The same is not true for Cygwin (although it *was* true once, back around
> > >version b16, when it was called gnu-win32).
> > 
> > True, but that is not the point. I believe this whold thread started
> > because I lamented the lack of people contributing directly to cygwin
> > development.
>> You also asked why. I believe that licensing may be one of the reasons why.
> So I don't think my comment is beside the point. You may disagree with me,
> but I think we're talking about the same topic.
>> > The many contributors to the linux kernel do not do so
> > because it is possible to develop proprietary code for linux.
>> That may not be their direct motivation, but I do think it is a
> significant factor. I think that if it were impossible to develop
> proprietry code for Linux, then Linux would have a much smaller user
> base, and there would be far fewer contributors to Linux.
>> > I don't consider companies who create proprietary kernel modules as
> > contributing to linux development in any way.
>> The ability to create proprietry kernel modules is of little importance.
> The ability to create proprietry applications is of much greater importance.
>> > Possibly they help indirectly
> > by getting the word out about linux but that is a secondary and, IMO, very
> > minor benefit.
>> I agree that the benefits are indirect and secondary. However,
> I don't think they should be ignored.
>> In addition to getting the word out, companies which develop proprietry
> applications (or kernel modules) often also help
>> 	(1) by using Linux, and in the process sometimes reporting
> 	 and/or fixing bugs in the kernel and/or the various
> 	 open-source applications that are part of Linux; sometimes
> 	 they will even add whole new features which are needed for
> 	 their proprietry application (or module); and
>> 	(2) by providing software (or drivers) which other people need,
> 	 and thus encouraging those other people to use Linux,
> 	 leading to the same benefits as (1).
>> -- 
> Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au> | "Binaries may die
> WWW: < http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh > | but source code lives forever"
> PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3 | -- leaked Microsoft memo.
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