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I would argue 5 years is most of a software useful lifetime. (for most software.) And open source software changes so fast, would you really if a company uses
by tocomment 17y ago
I would argue 5 years is most of a software useful lifetime. (for most software.) And open source software changes so fast, would you really if a company uses a 5 year old version of your code with doing copyleft stuff? They'd still have an incentive to use a newer version and follow your license.
Plus the benefits gained in other fields by a five year limit (think research papers, movies, music) would far outweigh anything lost to the software field.
- DarkShikari 17y agoAgreed. Of what use would be a 5 year old version of Firefox? It would be covered in security holes and missing many modern features. Of what use would be a 5 year old version of the Linux kernel? It would have root exploits all over the place and be missing support for lots of modern hardware. Of what use would be a 5 year old version of mplayer? It wouldn't even be able to play Youtube videos.
- req2 17y agoConsumer software might upgrade rapidly, but business software would probably take a hit. At $10,000 a license per year times multiple licenses, a lot of business software vendors might find themselves losing clients after five years.