On Thu, Jul 11, 2002 at 02:55:32AM +0200, Simo Sorce wrote:
copyright does not "protect" ideas, only specific implementations.
That's the whole point, right? Unfourtunately a freely expressed idea can be improved in a proprietary way, which is not something I can wish for.
The around 340 lines of the GPL could represent quite some important math theorems (and respective proofs). Are they less significant than a a gigabyte of 1+1.... ?
that does not matter, as a 340 lines code can be easily analyzed and recoded in other form, so in that case putting it in Public Domain (where that is possible) or using the GPL would not make much difference.
340 loc can express quite complex ideas that may take hundreds of years to prove... :) so I disagree with the 'easy analisys' point of view.
Quantity is hardly ever a good measure (and yes, I know of the saying: if brute force does not solve your problem, you're not using enough!)
Cheers,