one can use the same topic for a work of poetry for a similar aesthetic effect and that doesn't infringe other poems
because the new poem does not depend on the original.
the kernel driver is useless without the kernel
Maybe, in some alternative universe, that could be correct but it isn't anywhere on Earth.
You can write a BSD-licensed driver as a Linux module and distribute it separately all you want - copyright law is OK with that.
The moment you insert the module into the kernel the whole thing, kernel + driver becomes a derivative work and you're forbidden from using it by the GPL - the license, not copyright... Copyright only gives the creators of the kernel the privileged power to impose that contractual restriction.
Long time ago, some BSD guys were trying to convince me that the GPL was primarily a weapon against BSD and other less restrictive licenses but I didn't believe it back then... boy, was I wrong.
You showed me how the GPL can be used for threats against the free modification of software by arguing for the addition of new, absurd powers to copyright - the opposite of what the GPL proponents are promoting it for. It's indeed a license that must be avoided at all cost.
yes, it is disputed, and the claim has not been tested in court. but it is an argument being made.
the GPL was primarily a weapon against BSD.
It's indeed a license that must be avoided at all cost.
well, it depend on whose side you support. i am on the side of protecting the rights of the user to modify their software. BSD licenses don't do that. they give me the right, but they don't protect it.
more importantly, i am also on the side of the developer to protect their ability to make a living. for that the BSD license is completely useless. GPL is better, AGPL even more, but even those are not restrictive enough to prevent unfair competition by large corporations.
i am not interested in allowing those companies to benefit from my work if they are not required to pass that forward.
In other words, you don't know what you're talking about... Everything I write is verifiable, have you heard of AI chat bots? Why are you going around asking old ladies for the latest gossip?
> yes, it is disputed, and the claim has not been tested in court.
Why don't you test in court? Do it, let's see what happens. Why did Linus wave middle fingers like a confused clown when Nvidia's lawyers stuffed the GPL2 with their driver? There was no lawsuit, only buffoonery in place of the promised "protection".
> but it is an argument being made.
There are millions of "arguments being made", 99.9% of them are BS, if you can't defend your arguments with facts, logic and court decisions don't waste e-space by regurgitating useless gossip, especially on HN.
> BSD licenses don't do that. they give me the right, but they don't protect it.
So, that's your reason to go on a crusade against the rights provided by BSD licenses.
Oh, that's sneaky - "Let's protect people from a license that gives them more rights than ours"
Your "protection" amounts to shilling for an absurdly extended interpretation of copyright powers while it's being sold as a defense against these very powers - this kind of diabolical nonsense is the opposite of protection.
