[Labs-l] Questions regarding the Labs Terms of use

[Tim Landscheidt]

(anonymous) wrote:

>>> [...]
>>> To be clear: I'm not going to make my code proprietary in
>>> any way. I just wanted to know whether I'm entitled to ask
>>> for the source of every Labs bot ;-)
>> Everyone is entitled to /ask/, but I don't think you have a
>> right to /receive/ the source :-).

> What's the purpose of open source then? (Apart from the two you mentioned)

> [...]

In general, apart from special cases like the AGPL, it is
(IMHO, of course) to make the users of a software owners, so
that they can learn, fix, improve or do whatever else they
feel necessary or advantageous without depending on the ap-
proval of the (original) developer.  Something similar to,
say, the plans of a house's plumbing or electricity lines;
they don't need to be publicly available to everyone or just
visitors, but it is essential that the house owner has them
for repairs and extensions.

Tim