3 ms·

MIT is not viral and it's what makes it so popular, you trade a copyright notice somewhere for the right to re-license to any license of your choosing, that mak

by Hamcha 4y ago

MIT is not viral and it's what makes it so popular, you trade a copyright notice somewhere for the right to re-license to any license of your choosing, that makes it the opposite of viral if anything. > And is copyleft really more ideological than permissive licenses? They are equally as ideological, but copyleft is definitely "louder" in a sense since it actually forces people to play along. > Copyleft still leverages copyright to its advantage, which can be seen as validating the usefulness of copyright Copyleft is an unfortunate name but the fact that it validates copyright doesn't invalidate itself. In a way, copyleft leverages copyright to fight copyright, though that's not really accurate. It's fighting a popular usage of copyright.

woojoo666 4y ago
Ah I thought you meant "viral" as in "popular". My mistake > They are equally as ideological, but copyleft is definitely "louder" in a sense since it actually forces people to play along. That's fair. I guess the ideology behind permissive licenses is to not force anybody to do anything
- kennywinker 4y ago
  I get what you're saying, but the idea that a license forces you to do something seems a bit of a skewed description. Linux being GPL licensed doesn't force me to do anything. If I want to use linux, I can. If I want to modify linux, then some rules kick in. But it's still opt-in, because you're not being "forced" to leverage the fruits of someone else's labour in the first place. And if you want to leverage others labour, all that's asked is that you make your labour available for others to do the same with. Which is, I guess, what I meant by "ideological". It seems like they are not just sharing some work they've done - they're sharing work that was inspired by a philosophy, and values they're trying to get others to adopt. Which is why it seems like a prime candidate for GPL licensing.

by Hamcha 4y ago

woojoo666 4y ago

Ah I thought you meant "viral" as in "popular". My mistake > They are equally as ideological, but copyleft is definitely "louder" in a sense since it actually forces people to play along. That's fair. I guess the ideology behind permissive licenses is to not force anybody to do anything

kennywinker 4y ago
I get what you're saying, but the idea that a license forces you to do something seems a bit of a skewed description. Linux being GPL licensed doesn't force me to do anything. If I want to use linux, I can. If I want to modify linux, then some rules kick in. But it's still opt-in, because you're not being "forced" to leverage the fruits of someone else's labour in the first place. And if you want to leverage others labour, all that's asked is that you make your labour available for others to do the same with. Which is, I guess, what I meant by "ideological". It seems like they are not just sharing some work they've done - they're sharing work that was inspired by a philosophy, and values they're trying to get others to adopt. Which is why it seems like a prime candidate for GPL licensing.