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The point (of GPL) is not that new community has to form around this released source, nor that the consumers having bought devices using GPL software would be a
by Maakuth 15y ago
The point (of GPL) is not that new community has to form around this released source, nor that the consumers having bought devices using GPL software would be able to recreate them with their own software modifications. The point is that for example Linux developers get to utilize possibly useful modifications made by product vendors, say bug fixes.
- sorbits 15y ago> The point is […] utilize possibly useful modifications […] The ideology which spawned the GPL is that systems should be open. When a consumer buys something like the Kindle, he or she should be able to make changes to the system, i.e. rebuild a modified version of the OS and use that instead of Amazon’s original version. The GPL is an ingenious way to transform the world of closed software to one where instead it is open, case in point being the Kindle, where Amazon decided to build on source already out there, and due to the license (GPL) in turn has to make their device more open than had they e.g. used BSD licensed software.