5 ms·

I just donated $20. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?

• ownagefool 12y ago
  I just donated $25. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
  • aorth 12y ago
    I just donated $25. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
    • reitanqild 12y ago
      Just donated $5.
      • jgmmo 12y ago
        ditto!
    • pyrois 12y ago
      I just donated $30. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
      • jjaredsimpson 12y ago
        I just donated $20. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
        • deleted 12y ago
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          • geoelectric 12y ago
            Honestly, I think the best way to promote open source licenses over free software copyleft licenses is to make sure the GPL has obvious, proven teeth. That way, commercial companies that don't want to risk the successful lawsuit and just want to build on existing code will go the MIT/BSD route exclusively; and GPL can remain in the academic and the ideologically-driven free software sector where it's really much more suited. If a company then wants to actually be a free software-based company, more power to them, but there'll be a lot less stumbling into that situation and half-assing the ethics of it like we see now. If nothing else, giving the GPL teeth will force the confrontations and precedents that finally define the boundaries of the copyleft concept and let people make more informed choices.
          • sangnoir 12y ago
            VMWare knew the software was licensed under GPL for years. They chose to violate the terms of the license - that's what matters here. They could have chosen to base off BSD licensed code, but they did not Would you be ok with them breaking the terms of the MIT/BSD license?I'm not familiar with the MIT/BSD restrictions, but I think one of them is to acknowledge original author? How would you feel if they violated that?
            • deleted 12y ago
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          • deleted 12y ago
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          • Arnt 12y ago
            I didn't donate anything either. FOLLOW THESE TERMS OR I WILL SUE YOU is not a good ethos for open source IMO. It leads so easily to MY WAY OR NO WAY, and that's not a good mindset for developers.
            • 12y ago
        • epc 12y ago
          I just donated $250. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
        • deleted 12y ago
          [deleted]
      • AngrySkillzz 12y ago
        I just donated $40. If there is nothing to stop large companies completely ignoring the GPL then what good is it?
    • Gurkenmaster 12y ago
      Is this some kind of parallelogram scheme?
      • alok-g 12y ago
        These are copyright violations happening here and now right before our eyes (!), though probably with tacit mutual (but unverified) consent. See my related comment here about increasing general awareness about IP issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9157590 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9157590