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The GPL is a license, not a Contributor Agreement or a Copyright Transfer. The author remains the owner of the copyright when they let others use it under a lic
by pritambaral 8y ago
The GPL is a license, not a Contributor Agreement or a Copyright Transfer. The author remains the owner of the copyright when they let others use it under a license, even open source licenses like the GPL.
Licensing a software out does not mean the author can no longer "claim any ownership". In the case of OSS licenses, it just means that they can't claim sole ownership.
- paxy 8y agoYes, but from the perspective of the end user (me), the license guarantees that I can use the current version of the software for free forever without Google or anyone else forcing any changes. Plus, if I don't like any changes they make, I can fork my own copy and continue developing on that (which the community will certainly do in a heartbeat if needed).
- pritambaral 8y agoYes, of course. I was just trying to clarify that that guarantee is due to the software being licensed to you and not because ownership gets transferred from the author.
- wiz21c 8y agoso right now, Google has a word to say about the direction of git.... But that's normal.