FSF's Kuhn Responds to Forbes Article Oct 14, 2003, 20 :00 UTC (13 Talkback[s]) (24185 reads) (Other stories by Bradley M. Kuhn)
Linux Today asked the Free Software Foundation's Bradley Kuhn if he would like a chance to respond to today's piece at Forbes.com. He gave a brief statement and permission to post it here:
"Like many articles in the mainstream media, it does
not represent any of the sides all that well.
"We have an ongoing productive and friendly conversation with CISCO and
Broadcom regarding their violation. In no violation case have we ever
filed a law suit, and rarely even get the point to threaten one, because
most companies feel that it is better for them and their customers to come
into compliance.
"Companies make a conscious choice to join the GPL'ed world and build their
products in freedom. They are required in return to respect the
communities rights, and the characterizations in the article don't point
out that it is a conscious quid pro quo for companies. Also, Free
Software licensing terms give much more permissions than any proprietary
equivalent that a company might base their product on."
