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Whether the GPL is harmful or not is a debatable issue, but it does cause a lot of problems to other FOSS projects that want to use GPL code. Lookie here: http

Whether the GPL is harmful or not is a debatable issue, but it does cause a lot of problems to other FOSS projects that want to use GPL code. Lookie here: http://www.freelists.org/post/haiku-development/INPUT-VOTE-includegpladdons http://www.freelists.org/post/haiku-development/INPUT-VOTE-i... For desktop apps and standalone tools, the GPL is fine. But if you're writing a compiler, interpreter, library or even an operating system, choosing the GPL will be a bloody stupid decision.

agazso 17y ago
Reality seems to contradict your opinion. GCC, Linux and thousands of quality libraries are written under GPL license. Releasing software as open source dows not mean giving it away for free. With GPL it literally means that you give it for freedom. As a developer of a commercial program, the GPL (with dual licensing) is the best choice if you want to release your source code and have control over it. Your users get it for free, but your competitors cannot modify it legally to take advantage over you. It's a win-win situation. Furthermore you have always the freedom to not to use GPL libraries if you think it causes more harm than good.