You are completely ignoring the explicit harm that is central to the GPL. Namely, that if everyone behaved the harmless way you and VMWare describe, there woul

You are completely ignoring the explicit harm that is central to the GPL. Namely, that if everyone behaved the harmless way you and VMWare describe, there would be very little/lower quality GPL software. And, that GPL contributors give their time and code away on the condition that those who benefit from it give back in the form of contributions and openness instead of money. GPL coders give their code away with conditions, and VMWare is breaking that condition. If VMWare wants to get code for free with no quid pro quo, then there's BSD. EDIT - Personal context - I've always liked MIT/BSD license. I just understand the GPL and its intentions, too.