3 ms·

Indeed, there is a reason why commercial projects and corporations avoid GPL like a plague.

formerly_proven 5y ago
There's an interesting dichotomy here. Linux is super-successful largely because it is GPL, but only because the syscall boundary (as a widely-accepted "GPL firewall") separates it from company code. Meanwhile companies will more or less blanket-ban GPL and AGPL software, even if the terms would not impact them at all.
- jakear 5y ago
  What annoys me most is that the “infection clause” so often results in a strictly worse user experience. Take Audacity, it’s a fully open source piece of software, but to do lots of common operations in it you need to figure out how to link in FFmpeg. This is something your or I can do no problem in our sleep, but it’s an absolute dealbreaker for someone like my dad, and probable millions of other people trying to get into audio projects using free software. I imagine a large number will simply bounce out and stick to GarageBand or whatever. I’m conflicted on this, on one hand I think FFmpeg is a brilliant piece of engineering and I want the creators to receive credit, but on the other I think Audacity and its built in components as listed in its “third party licenses” document are brilliant pieces of software that do receive credit. Further, I believe the one of the primary purposes of technology should be to enable the masses to create, and this licensing places an arbitrary yet powerful restriction on that for folks who aren’t already computer-proficient.
  - formerly_proven 5y ago
    > Take Audacity, it’s a fully open source piece of software, but to do lots of common operations in it you need to figure out how to link in FFmpeg. Audacity and FFmpeg are both under the L/GPL, compatible versions even. The reason Audacity doesn't include FFmpeg is because they are afraid of software patents. GPL has nothing to do with it. At all. > Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include the FFmpeg software or distribute it from its own websites. Instead, following the links below to instructions to download and install the free and recommended FFmpeg third-party library.

There's an interesting dichotomy here. Linux is super-successful largely because it is GPL, but only because the syscall boundary (as a widely-accepted "GPL firewall") separates it from company code. Meanwhile companies will more or less blanket-ban GPL and AGPL software, even if the terms would not impact them at all.

jakear 5y ago
What annoys me most is that the “infection clause” so often results in a strictly worse user experience. Take Audacity, it’s a fully open source piece of software, but to do lots of common operations in it you need to figure out how to link in FFmpeg. This is something your or I can do no problem in our sleep, but it’s an absolute dealbreaker for someone like my dad, and probable millions of other people trying to get into audio projects using free software. I imagine a large number will simply bounce out and stick to GarageBand or whatever. I’m conflicted on this, on one hand I think FFmpeg is a brilliant piece of engineering and I want the creators to receive credit, but on the other I think Audacity and its built in components as listed in its “third party licenses” document are brilliant pieces of software that do receive credit. Further, I believe the one of the primary purposes of technology should be to enable the masses to create, and this licensing places an arbitrary yet powerful restriction on that for folks who aren’t already computer-proficient.
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  > Take Audacity, it’s a fully open source piece of software, but to do lots of common operations in it you need to figure out how to link in FFmpeg. Audacity and FFmpeg are both under the L/GPL, compatible versions even. The reason Audacity doesn't include FFmpeg is because they are afraid of software patents. GPL has nothing to do with it. At all. > Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include the FFmpeg software or distribute it from its own websites. Instead, following the links below to instructions to download and install the free and recommended FFmpeg third-party library.