On Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 11:30:26AM -0500, Dan Armbrust wrote:
> Well, distribution is kinda the point if you are working on other
> opensource software.  In past jobs, I have written a lot of software
> that was opensource.  Our goal was for everyone to be able to use our
> software, individuals and companies.  The restrictions introduced by
> GPL mean that we could not use any GPL software - because our software
> was required to be more free than GPL allows.  Otherwise, there was no
> point.  If companies couldn't use it, we were done.
> 
> Apache and Eclipse don't allow GPL licensed code contributions,
> because its not free enough.  The restrictions are silly.  Why would
> you want to cut your software off from 90% of your potential users?

Do you have any way to substantiate the 90% claim?

> Sure, there are arguments that they might release their own product
> based on it... but, that doesn't seem to happen in practice.
> Certainly doesn't seem to be hurting Apache and Eclipse, among
> others....  In reality, you end up getting patches and bug fixes from
> a much wider audience with a license that allows more folks that a few
> PhD students to use your software because it doesn't impose a bunch of
> pie-in-the-sky make-the-world-a-better-place restrictions.

Maybe because the times have changed.  In the 60s and 70s, the
software was "free", you were getting it with the big iron.  In the
80s and 90s, companies realized there is value that can be extracted
from the marked and started closing up the source.  In the late 90s
and 00s, companies realized the benefit of openness.  Remember when
Sun charged Kevin Mitnick with 'stealing' some hundreds of millions of
$ for peeking at the SunOS/Solaris code?  And then, a few years later
they open sourced it?  Java?  Remember how 'controlling' it was
important?  And now it is not?

Nothing _fundamentally_ changed during this time span.  Software is
_hard_ (like hunting down mammoths and lions) and cooperatively we
can make it better for all.  It is just the perceptions that are
swinging one way or another.

Cheers,

-- 
Bruce Schneier expects the Spanish Inquisition.
      http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163
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