'Seems like a bad business decision' sounds like you think that's a decision to make in the first place. Basing your company on operating systems/database syste

'Seems like a bad business decision' sounds like you think that's a decision to make in the first place. Basing your company on operating systems/database systems/tooling that you got from bittorrent might be a 'business decision' in the same way, if I understand you correctly? Not complying with the license of the software you use is not a good business decision. I said otherwise in my previous post and that was incorrect. My bad. However, if you're operating in an environment in which you know that your compliance with said license will not be reciprocated by your competitors, then I can understand why one would be reluctant. How are there three choices? It's either complying or not using. Everything else is not a business, it's a shady/illegal way to make money off other people's work. Again: This isn't a (real, legitimate) choice in the first place, so I don't see why this comes up at all. It's clear these companies have no issue with not complying with the GPL. If they did, they would be in compliance right now. If your goal is popularizing a new operating system, and you know you're dealing with people who do not care about such trivial matters like licenses or laws, then not taking measures to enforce the license is good for business. That, while shady, and perhaps evil, is not illegal.