I don't think 'giving back' is the only practical difference with the GPL even if you open source your own code and hand it out freely. The FSF's position as o

I don't think 'giving back' is the only practical difference with the GPL even if you open source your own code and hand it out freely. The FSF's position as of November 2010 is that you can't comply with the GPL's terms if you distribute that code as part of something else on the iOS app store. http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc-devel/2010-November/077486.html http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc-devel/2010-Novembe... Perhaps that has changed, but I doubt it. Binaries are still encrypted, still tied to a specific account, and still can't be re-distributed as the GPL specifically requires, because they won't work. I don't want to argue the commercial vs open, 'stealing code' vs giving back thing all over again, those are just the facts. According to the people who wrote the GPL, it can't be used on the App Store, so I avoid it when working on something for that platform.