Claim hell - GPL IS more intrusive and evil than the Microsoft
license. The Microsoft license is clearly defined. It's range is
clearly defined and finite. The GPL is clearly defined. It's
range is basically infinite.
Any code you use that belongs to someone else can ask you to do just
about anything to comply. If you don't like it just don't use that code.
You seem to want people to give you their work for free without any
restrictions on what you do with it. You probably think the public
library is evil too for asking you eventually return the books you
borrow for free and to not rip pages out while you have them. If someone
loans you a beach house for the holiday you'd probably think they were
jerks for asking you not to piss on the floor while you were there.
Sean, may I ask something out of curiosity? Approximately how old
are you and in generic terms (real-estate office, large software
development company, boutique game company, or whatever) who do
you work for? I'd like to get an idea of where you are coming from.
You SOUND like a college student who has not gotten out into the
real world to find a real job yet. If that is not right I'd like
to refine my image of you and try to figure out where you come
from in this argument.
I manage several businesses (my own and for others) and I've been a
professional software developer for more than a decade and have used the
GPL as my primary license for all my work for most of that time. I write
software ranging from vertical business app stacks to small single
purpose web apps. I'm not the best software developer or business
manager out there but I do okay. At times it is rough being a software
developer, especially as your own small business or doing freelance
work, but license has never been an issue in my experience. Using the
GPL ensures I, and the total community of users, retain some rights to
my code unlike with some open source licenses like the BSD or MIT
licenses which offer less protection to the developer. At the same time
it allows my customers the freedom to view and modify the source without
me if for some reason I'm no longer available to do the work for them or
they decide I'm not satisfying their needs. If they want to redistribute
the program, with or without changes, without need to provide the code
to others then they can easily re-license the code from me at an
additional fee (usually a small fee plus royalties). In this way I can
ensure that the company using the code is making some sort of
contribution to the development of that code and to the total community
that uses that code.
If you choose to use other open source licenses then most likely at some
point your going to be really mad when you find out your hard work has
been taken and somebody else is making a lot of money selling it and
isn't giving you a dime or contributing at all to the future development
of that work. If you're okay with that then use BSD or whatever else you
want to license your code. Just remember that doing so is akin to
bending over in a prison shower. It all depends on what you're looking for.
If you choose to not go open source you are setting yourself to compete
with a concept that is very beneficial to the users of software,
including your potential clients. My experience in business is that it's
not a very good idea to put yourself at odds with your own customer
base. If something as easy as opening my code can give my customers
piece of mind in the validity of their choice in going with me then hey
it's an easy choice. I consider it just good customer service. It makes
it easier to make the sale and it doesn't cost me a cent. Most of the
code I sell isn't available on the Internet even though it is licensed
as GPL. I don't post it there and I've rarely had a client post my code
either. That'd be rather stupid of them to give away to their own
competition what they've paid me for. When they do publish the code
though it doesn't have any significant impact on me as the people who
download and use it are more likely to pay for my services later and
those that don't are usually people who wouldn't have anyway.
If you're just someone that is mad that you can't take GPL code and
relabel it as your own work and make globs of money off it without any
kind of responsibility to give credit or contribute back to those who
actually wrote that code.. well in that case you're probably not very
good at business or coding anyway and should go get a job at Burger King.
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