“I develop software for a living, so my position regarding
third-party software has always been pragmatic: consider the cost
and evaluate how well each solution meets your requirements. Most
open source software is licensed free of charge. But does software
that is licensed for free really have zero cost?…”
“Paradoxically, one of the most restrictive licenses — the
GPL — is very liberal about redistribution rights. Under the
GPL, you can distribute the original work or its derivatives to
whomever you like, as long as you make readily available the source
to the original work, the modifications you obtained, and any
modifications you made. Any licenses you give must also follow the
GPL restrictions…”
“Some would argue that source licenses that restrict the use or
the creation of derivative works are not really open source. This,
however, is the most common form of licensing use in academia,
which is driving the so-called open source movement and is a main
provider of useful source code.”