The Galactic Patrol

I just read an article making the case that the recent successes in Iraq spell trouble for Obama’s Presidential campaign.  That may be; but as far as I’m concerned, while the good news is wonderful – it doesn’t make me want to further reward the people who got us into Iraq in the first place.

Here is my current understanding of software licenses.  You create a piece of software.  You own it.  You can choose to license it to whoever you want, however you want – you could license it to person A with the GPL, person B with BSD, and person C with some commercial license.  Each person has to follow the rules of the license you gave them, since you own the software.

Now suppose I publish my software on the internet.  I put out all the source code, and say “I make this freely available under the GPL.”  Further suppose that I later change my mind, decide to make some money, and remove that publication, replacing it with some binaries under a commercial license.  What exactly does that mean?

I’d guess that folks who have already downloaded the source code under the GPL have an existing contract with me, that I can’t unilaterally rescind – so they get to keep doing the GPL thing with the code.  Any lawyers out there know if that is right?

Also interesting – how about folks who obtain the GPL download (perhaps from a mirror site) after I’ve removed it from my initial publication location?

Also, if there is something special about GPL that changes the discussion above, I’d also be interested in knowing the differences for BSD, CC, or any other commonly used license.

Note this is just academic speculation – I don’t have any personal licensed software; Microsoft owns my work product.

I just spent too much time deleting spam from my blog comments – what a pain!

I’m planning on voting for Obama this fall.  Its a little strange, because I also think that we have a responsibility to the people of Iraq.  The American deaths have been terrible, but so have the Iraqi ones.  Having created this situation, it also falls on our shoulders to make it right.  (To the extent that is possible.)  I’m also not averse to having a military center of power in the region, which is obviously an important one – have you seen the gas prices lately?

So now you’re thinking - “why the heck are you voting for Obama?”

It is because war is a big deal.  War is not something entered into lightly, and while I expect politicians to be ideological and propagandistic, when the stakes become higher I expect better from them.  In retrospect, the causus belli did not justify the war, which means the administration was either inept or deceptive.  Either way, I don’t trust them to make good decisions in the future.

I have other reasons to dislike the current administration – their anti-science agenda, and the incredible resurgence of the federal deficit, for two.  But really, those are secondary considerations.

In America, the way we let our President know about our support for his policies (or lack thereof) is with our vote.  I’m exercising my authority.  I’m voting for Obama.

I believe Obama is a good person – just as I also believe Bush is a good person.  I trust Obama to not screw over the Iraqi people, even as he fulfills his campaign promises to get our troops out.  I’ll let him know how well he is satisfying my trust via this blog, and god willing, the vote in another four years.

Excerpt from a chat log, two minutes ago, with my four-year-old daughter and my wife:

Bellejar says:
hi dad i love you
Bellejar says:
lucy typed that all by herself
Bruce says:
wow!
Bruce says:
I didn't know that Lucy could type!
Bruce says:
That is awesome!
Bruce says:
I have tears of happiness in my eyes...