Red Hat has had a commercial Cygwin offering (not a different version from the project) ever since the Cygnus acquisition, but this is now being phased out (no

Red Hat has had a commercial Cygwin offering (not a different version from the project) ever since the Cygnus acquisition, but this is now being phased out (no new customers will be taken on, and the last existing non-GPL customer license expires in 2020). It is possible that companies other than Red Hat may wish to offer commercial support for Cygwin or some derivative of Cygwin. The license change does have the effect of making it easier for programs to leverage the Cygwin library without concern about licensing implications. I wouldn't quite say that is the purpose, but if only because Red Hat will no longer be providing commercial support for Cygwin the license change is the right thing to do. (I think there are additional reasons why the license change is right.)