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Only uneducated people think that merely using or deploying AGPL software is 'problematic' in any way. Please don't spread that unreasonable fear.
by mynewtb 10y ago
Only uneducated people think that merely using or deploying AGPL software is 'problematic' in any way. Please don't spread that unreasonable fear.
- zellyn 10y agoI can't even.
- zellyn 10y agoOut of curiosity, why the downvotes? Is there a better way to respond to being told you lack education to discuss a matter? (Other than the obvious ignoring completely?)
- BuuQu9hu 10y agoI used to be at Google; AGPL was banned there. I hear that it is banned at many other large/huge shops. I run a tiny business. AGPL is banned there too. It isn't an "unreasonable fear". It is a reasonable decision based on mitigation of risk. AGPL is a risky license for end users; it goes too far beyond the Four Freedoms.
- palebluedot 10y agoThat sort of response, "only uneducated people think...", really shuts down conversation, and is a hindrance to constructive discussion. Whether or not AGPL is 'problematic' is something that can be discussed without ad-hominem attacks.
- mynewtb 10y agoSorry, I did not mean it like that. ESL here.
- palebluedot 10y agoThanks for clarifying! Reading your original comment in the context of this comment, I understand how your first comment probably is not what I thought it was originally.
- larkost 10y agoApple's lawyers are definitely educated, and they have put their foot down within Apple. And Apple is not the only large organization where exactly that has happened. You may well disagree with them, but they are the ones far more educated in the law, and they are concerned by it, so there is probably something to it. The speculation I have heard is that the terms "deploy" and "link" are both ill-defined and have not gotten proper testing in the courts. So there is no case-law saying that pushing your changed binaries to 1,000 internal sites (or even better: partially owned subsidiaries) does not invoke the clause. Or what does "linking" mean in the context of a database driver? What happens if a well-meaning employee loans out a modified binary to a customer to see if it fixes their problem? All of that makes lawyers nervous, and what makes one lawyer nervous has the potential of making other lawyers rich at their companies expense. Just because you read something and come to a conclusion does not mean that people who come to other conclusions are "uneducated".