Re:Why the GPL is great for business
by simonh on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @03:15AM
(#31420052)
The GPL is awesome for sure, and yes it’s great for business too. I see it as highly synergistic with proprietary software. They each have complementary strengths and weaknesses.
Re:Why the GPL is great for business
by moedersmooiste on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @04:28AM
(#31420435)
In the company I work for the GPL is classified as high risk by legal. MIT and BSD style licenses are preferred because they don't have the viral effect that the GPL has.
Re:Why the GPL is great for business
by smarx007 on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @04:36AM
(#31420485)
Yes, but that’s for dependencies, not for using the software. E.g. not developing a proprietary compiler on top of GCC but should be no problem running MongoDB as a user. The use-case in the talk is the latter one, where users don’t fall under the viral provisions, only competitors do.
Re:Why the GPL is great for business
by t0suj4 on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @12:48PM
(#31424928)
With GPL the user is entitled to access the source code of the software and any modifications which allows them to hire another developer if they aren't satisfied.
With BSD (and other attribution licenses) it depends on the developer's goodwill whether the user can get the source code or not.
Re:Why the GPL is great for business
by conz on Friday May 20, 2022 @08:01PM
(#31454038)
> With GPL the user is entitled to access the source code of the software and any modifications which allows them to hire another developer if they aren't satisfied.
Absolutely, which is why I used the term of 'giving freedom to the code' - in perpetuity.
> With BSD (and other attribution licenses) it depends on the developer's goodwill whether the user can get the source code or not.
Concur, which again, is why I used the term of 'giving freedom to the developer' - to do with the code what she/he wants.
Re:Why the GPL is great for business
by sylware on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @07:57AM
(#31421660)
A use case which usually people do not think about: the GNU GPL does work for many defence contracts... yep it works with strong secrecy.
The end-user being the defence, any modifications done on top of GPL open source software have to be provided to the user... namely the defence, the only end-user.
GPL (and other share-and-share-alike licences) gives freedom to the software.
BSD (and other attribution or public domain licences) gives freedom to the developer.
Both give similar freedom to the users. In fact, they establish no restrictions on users or usage.
With BSD (and other attribution licenses) it depends on the developer's goodwill whether the user can get the source code or not.
GPL allows nearly frictionless transition
Absolutely, which is why I used the term of 'giving freedom to the code' - in perpetuity.
> With BSD (and other attribution licenses) it depends on the developer's goodwill whether the user can get the source code or not.
Concur, which again, is why I used the term of 'giving freedom to the developer' - to do with the code what she/he wants.
The end-user being the defence, any modifications done on top of GPL open source software have to be provided to the user... namely the defence, the only end-user.