Ross Paterson
I just believe that if an author gives us something, s/he should have some control over how their work is used. I'd prefer to receive it with fewer conditions, but that is their decision. It's a fair bargain. A world run your way would be the poorer, with authors less likely to produce non-profit publications.
I think this argument is at least as important as the legal arguments. If someone abuses or misuses a gift, the donor will be less willing to give again (to them and, to a lesser extent to others) in the future. If I see someone abuse a gift, I'm going to think twice before giving that person a gift myself. People on this list benefit hugely from gift giving (i.e., freely available Haskell compilers and libraries) so we should take care to use gifts in the spirit in which they are intended. In this case, the intentions are clear. This means the gift is not as free as we'd like but, still, the intentions are clear and we should abide by them. -- Alastair Reid alastair@reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk Reid Consulting (UK) Limited http://www.reid-consulting-uk.ltd.uk/alastair/