what FUTO and others (eg bruce perens) are trying to figure out is how to make sure that profits made from the software go back to the original developers. in

what FUTO and others (eg bruce perens) are trying to figure out is how to make sure that profits made from the software go back to the original developers. in the past linux distributions were needed because distributing software was difficult an the distributions helped get the software to the end users. today distributing software is easy, and if i want my application usable on debian all i need is to create a debian package that i can distribute myself. which means i can use a more restrictive license and prevent big companies from taking advantage of my work for free. it is not clear yet what the right approach here is, but getting my application into debian proper is unlikely to help me make any money, so why bother? i therefore appreciate FUTO experimenting with the licensing model to see if there is a way to get software to the world without allowing profitable companies to freeload on our work.