“But today, open-source software is much more familiar, and tech
companies generally understand how the model works, if not always
when to open their own software. So the initial mission served by
the GPL of force-feeding open-source development isn?t as necessary
as it once was, at least among educated tech companies.I suspect the lifecycle has now shifted. Although tech companies
get it, the next step will be non-tech companies such as retailers,
investment banks, etc. Maybe the GPL is the right choice for them
as a teaching tool, followed in a few years by a migration toward
permissively licensed software once the benefits are
understood.
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
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