[wp-hackers] Re: Removal Of Over 200 Themes?

[Krusty Ruffle]

I find myself in a position to agree with Otto's opinion, if it doesn't do
anything without WordPress then it should be considered derivative work. I
do not base this on any laws as I am not a legally knowledgeable person. I
base this idea purely on the morals that caused free software to come into
existence in the first place. The spirit of free software says that code
should be free, people who take advantage of a free software source like
WordPress, making new code specifically for it but locking up said code with
copyright, are violating the spirit of free software even if it turns out
that it is legal.

The simple truth is that they are coding with propriety goals but tryin to
avoid proprietary costs by exploiting free software. If you have proprietary
goals you should use proprietary software, if you use free software you
should use free software models, such as the long standing act of giving
away the software and selling support, or coding specific functions for
'sponsoring parties'. There are ways to make money with free software, they
just differ from the model that most of us have been taught.

That said, I not only fully support the decision to drop these themes, I
applaud it. Between this decision and the massive improvements in WP 2.7 I
am quite happy with WordPress.