[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [ProgSoc] GPL & CDDL



On Fri, 2007-11-09 at 16:49 +1100, Nicholas FitzRoy-Dale wrote:

> Why not consider using an OS whose kernel is licensed in a more  
> business-friendly way? All non-GPL OSes I can think of qualify,  
> including (ironically) Windows.

One of the big surprises for corporate lawyers who were looking to
protect their employers' investments from being appropriated by
competitors is that the GPLv2 does _exactly_ what they were trying to do
with their super-clever in-house-written licenses, only better (helps
people use their software, rewards contributors, punishes private
appropriators), plus it facilitates integration with an enormous body of
existing code, which provides a strong competitive advantage.

That it was being promulgated by a long-hair anti-corporate guy who some
would confuse with a hippy goes some way to explaining this otherwise
astonishing stupidity.



If you are a business looking to collaborate on and/or contribute to
software development, then the GPLv2 is as business-friendly as they
come.

If you are a business looking to use software without granting someone
else ((cough)Microsoft(cough)) the ability to compel you to pay more
than you bargained for to get less than you bargained for (and/or to
retrospectively take stuff away from you), then the GPLv2 is as
business-friendly as they come.

If you are a business looking to privately appropriate whatever you can
get your hands on, at someone else's expense, then the GPLv2 is not your
friend.



The most profound commercial trend of the last decade is the transition
away from closed corporations as the primary means of production, at
least with respect to goods that can be expressed as bits, to that of
open collaborations (on many fronts, not just software development).
Those clinging to 19th/20th century approaches to production are
hurting, and will hurt more as time goes on. Approaches to production
which facilitate widespread use, encourage co-operation and punish
betrayal will become more prevalent over time; the GPLv2 is merely an
early, albeit important, example.

- Raz


-
You are subscribed to the progsoc mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a
message containing "unsubscribe" to progsoc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If you are having trouble, ask owner-progsoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for help.