> the license that maximizes developer freedom is a permissive license, like Apache, MIT, BSD 3-clause etc. Depends on what open source philosophy you support

> the license that maximizes developer freedom is a permissive license, like Apache, MIT, BSD 3-clause etc. Depends on what open source philosophy you support - do you believe users should have the right to look at your source code, modify it, and share the modifications with others? In that case only an open source license like the GPL, that protects the USERS right meets this requirement. Every developer is also a user of their product. Thus, protecting the rights of the USER, automatically protects the rights of the developer too, to further study, develop and customise their code further. On the other hand, permissive license can restrict developers, as others can close-source your open-source work. If all you want is recognition and credit for your work, then permissive open source licenses are definitely better.