3 ms·
Cisco is a business not a child, I don't think they are going to take their toys and go home.
by glymor 18y ago
Cisco is a business not a child, I don't think they are going to take their toys and go home.
- newt0311 18y agoThats exactly what they will do and business in general. Every lawsuit filed against a company violating GPL is another reason for companies not to use FOSS in the first place.
- Herring 18y agoHow is it to be enforced then? Its been 5 yrs. If uptake was the goal, it would have been BSD or public domain.
- davidw 18y agoHere's how that will work out in a competitive market: * Some companies will be fearful, because they don't understand, and, as you say, will indiscriminately avoid all open source software. * Other companies will take the time and effort to understand what GPL, BSD, the Apache license, and the like mean and require of them, and as a consequence will be able to take advantage of open source software where it is appropriate. This will be a competitive advantage for them.
- newt0311 18y agoPerhaps but in the marginal case (Ie. for a company which is just on the edge of using a FOSS product), this could screw everybody over.
- davidw 18y agoOnly if they're clueless enough to not understanding the licensing. If you're basing your business on something, you should understand how it works, licensing included. It's really not all that difficult, and if you have doubts, there are tons of people you can ask for help. I've done a bit of that kind of work for pay in the past, although I obviously avoid actual 'legal' questions. I wouldn't mind getting more, but I don't think that it's that common, as it's just not that hard to understand, and there are tons of people who will answer questions for free.