I like to compare it with WordPress, what with wordpress.com and wordpress MU, etc. Rails and AGPL vs PHP and GPLv2. Admittedly Diaspora are two steps up on the

I like to compare it with WordPress, what with wordpress.com and wordpress MU, etc. Rails and AGPL vs PHP and GPLv2. Admittedly Diaspora are two steps up on the language and license stakes but I don't think that's a real road-block. That's probably just small stakes. If it's popular enough, site providers will fall over themselves to enable 'installation' of Diaspora. People (theme designers mostly) complain about GPL in WordPress too, but lots of web designers are making custom WordPress sites and making money off it too.