We also knew that a major
publishing house releasing an encryption-protected
e-book on Richard M. Stallman was the software
equivalent of putting "Steal This E-Book" on the cover.
After my meeting with Henning, I put a call into
Stallman. Hoping to make the carrot more enticing, I
discussed a number of potential compromises. What if
the publisher released the book's content under a split
license, something similar to what Sun Microsystems had
done with Open Office, the free software desktop
applications suite? The publisher could then release
commercial versions of the e-book under a normal
format, taking advantage of all the bells and whistles
that went with the e-book software, while releasing the
copyable version under a less aesthetically pleasing
HTML format.
Stallman told me he didn't mind the split-license idea,
but he did dislike the idea of making the freely
copyable version inferior to the restricted version.
Besides, he said, the idea was too cumbersome. Split
licenses worked in the case of Sun's Open Office only
because he had no control over the decision making.
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