Re: Results of "downloading compressed program images" request

[Craig Burley <burley@gnu.org>]

>I don't wish to imflame or to provoke, but I must take exception to your
>statement that you "have little sympathy with someone who wants to keep
>hardware specs secret merely so as to beat out someone else". 
[...]
>So, now that I have gotten off of my soapbox, do you care to reply as to why
>you feel that a company should not be entitled to trade secret protection?

Could we please restrict discussions to things people actually say,
not what someone decides they've said?

If a company wants trade-secret protection, and GPL'ed software
cannot fit with those wants, either the company gives up protecting
those trade secrets, or they give up the idea of using that GPL'ed
software.

Since the basic purpose of the huge patent system we have is
to *reduce* the keeping of trade secrets, I have no trouble
understanding why someone like rms would decide that expending
effort to ensure that GPL'ed code, which he has written and
project-managed plenty of, is compatible with the wants of
companies choosing to use the trade-secret mechanism to improve
their competitive position and profitability.

Personally, I have little sympathy with such companies myself.
If I were to also feel they're not entitled to trade secret
protection, I'd say that too, but I am not saying that.

And neither was rms.

        tq vm, (burley)