I'll take this off list and reply to you tomorrow. I didn't actually mean to make my views so public on this particular list but anyone interested can see plenty more on the fsfeurope discussion list archives.
Can you guys keep this on list? I'd be insterested in the debate.
I for one interpret the GPL as a social construct. It's intended to build a community of people who study, modify and redistribute software. I also think that it is commercially exploitable (I'm organising a lecture by a CEO who _believes_ in Free Software).
I personally don't like things like Open Source or the LGPL. I don't like the possibility that things could be unfree.
OTOH Ian Clarke was correct when he corrected me on what freedom really means. I suggested that we should push for a Free Software clause in swpat legislation. Ian correctly pointed out that goverment legislation that _forces_ the use of Free Software negates the whole idea of freedom.
So, as a social construct, the GPL is doing good things. It's leagal status is debatable (and not wholly of interest to me). If you don't choose to use Free Software I believe that you are missing out on several large advantages. The opinion of people who believe in Open Source (as a superset of Free Software) or propritery software (as a disjoint set from Open Source) is valuable, but I don't want to see an IFSO settling for a "common position" of Open Source.