Re: Permission to use portions of the recent GNU Emacs Manual

[Robert J. Chassell]

   > ??? The FSF sells printed copies of the ELisp manual.  I actually saw
   > them.

   Well, but it would not seem that there is much interest from
   independent publishers, and that was supposed to be the driving
   factor for choosing the GFDL instead of the GPL, if I understood
   the argument correctly.

Evidentally, I have not been clear.  Nothing in this thread that I
said should have suggested that interest from independent publishers
drives the use of the GFDL with regard to the elisp reference manual.

Instead, I have tried to say that the goal is to persuade others to
choose the GFDL over a `Creative Commons license with a commercial
restriction' or similar license.  The GFDL is better.

Being a `do as we do' organization is necessary on account of the
characters of the people in the organization.  They are lousy at doing
one thing and saying something at odds with that action.  The GFDL
ends up both moral and practical.  These are the driving factors.

(Incidentally, as far as I can see, the timescale for measuring
success or failure is another generation or so.  My hope is that by
that time, societies will have decided that it is a good idea to
permit strangers to modify changeable works like technical
documentation, to permit strangers to manufacture copies of them that
use resources, and at the same time to permit the initiating
organizations to recover costs they have expended.  My fear is that
the strategy will have failed and that societies will have decided to
restrict your freedom to protect yourself from those who would hinder
development to their benefit.)

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         
    address@hidden                         GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  http://www.teak.cc