> That assumes a company writing its own closed-source software is capable of keeping up with an entire community. If that were the case, we'd have had a propr

> That assumes a company writing its own closed-source software is capable of keeping up with an entire community. If that were the case, we'd have had a proprietary version of the Linux kernel long ago, and it'd have completely replaced Linux in all the areas where Linux currently thrives. Uh, yes, that's one of the reasons the license itself doesn't make much of a difference. If you want to fork the Linux kernel and not give back -- and companies do that in our world -- you'll quickly learn that the license is the least of your problems with regard to staying up to date. > Also, assuming the case that Open Source is more efficient, some of us don't want to wait around for inefficient closed-source-based companies to fold, because they can use the large savings they're sitting on to take a very long time thrashing around and doing damage before dying or adapting. That's a valid point. Then again, reciprocal licenses are based on the assumption that, fundamentally, they'll get faster results with legal action (or threatened legal action) than the results you can expect from the the added costs of running a fork of an open source project. When your first cease and desist letter works, that's true. Then again, the IBM vs. SCO fiasco showed how long it can take to get vindication from the courts. > ESR's type-A and type-B universes both presuppose free markets and perfect market efficiency. There's a difference between wanting that and assuming that it's already the case. You don't have to have perfect market efficiency. Thinking about how things would work in a perfect world is often useful for understanding the imperfect world we actually do live in. The world we live in does involve a very impersonal market that will relentlessly tell you when you're in the wrong business, or trying to do something in a silly way. People have an ability to ignore the market's message, but it certainly exists.