Re:All software sucks
by dllthomas on Saturday April 19, 2014 @06:55PM
(#7615068)
From the point of view of someone more sympathetic to the GPL, I'll say that for some it's about sustainability of freedoms. If a proprietary fork draws away the user base (and maybe hires away key developers), I don't lose access to existing code, but updated code becomes substantially less likely and un-updated code (often) becomes gradually less useful. This situation is by no means impossible for GPL software but it's less likely (it can't be an actual fork, so there's more work to be done at the outset).
In the short term, it's reasonable to say that BSD is "more free" in that it permits things that GPL does not. In the long term, the usable versions of that code may not be free at all.
The one arguable caveat regarding BSD's short-term win (which would make it a short-term tie not a short-term win for the GPL) is that the only restrictions the GPL applies are against infringing on the rights of others. In which case, we're not talking about "freedoms" but "powers" being impinged - I'm not "less free" because I don't have the right to kill people, we're all (individually!) more free for not having to worry as much about arbitrary threats to our lives. To the degree this is the case, there's an argument there; the degree to which this is the case is not 100%, though - there are corner cases - but it is pretty typically the case. Whether you buy the argument is of course up to you.
In the short term, it's reasonable to say that BSD is "more free" in that it permits things that GPL does not. In the long term, the usable versions of that code may not be free at all.
The one arguable caveat regarding BSD's short-term win (which would make it a short-term tie not a short-term win for the GPL) is that the only restrictions the GPL applies are against infringing on the rights of others. In which case, we're not talking about "freedoms" but "powers" being impinged - I'm not "less free" because I don't have the right to kill people, we're all (individually!) more free for not having to worry as much about arbitrary threats to our lives. To the degree this is the case, there's an argument there; the degree to which this is the case is not 100%, though - there are corner cases - but it is pretty typically the case. Whether you buy the argument is of course up to you.