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People used to say that the GPL was illegal, unacceptable, immoral, and all sorts of other things. Then, gradually, everyone started using it, and copyleft beca
by throwgoog452 9y ago
People used to say that the GPL was illegal, unacceptable, immoral, and all sorts of other things. Then, gradually, everyone started using it, and copyleft became an acceptable software licensing strategy. I hope that BSD + Patents also achieves gradual acceptability.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoPeople started using the GPL because it works fine for software that isn't distributed to consumers, e.g. on servers. Those uses have subverted the entire intent of he license, however.
- chii 9y ago> Those uses have subverted the entire intent of the license You're reading too much into the intent of the license. GPLv2 being used on servers is a valid use case. Tivoization is indeed subverting the intent of GPLv2, which is one of the reason for GPLv3. But in the case of Tivoization, you _are_ distributing the code to end users, rather than just running it on their behalf, and hence, in my eyes, violates the intent of GPL (that end users you distribute your software to should be allowed to modify the software). Hosted software isn't like tivoization, in that the host doesn't distribute, and so no GPL issues whatsoever.
- wolco 9y agoThe more conditions we apply the less usage it will get. But adding conditions like everyone can share in the changes provides a different value and encourages more changes. GPL works because it forces the source code to remain open allowing everyone to enjoy all new changes. BSD works because you are free to repackage and resell with bsd code. This code can be used in an existing product.