Why Microsoft Loves GPL 3.0: Changing Strategies

“Two Slashdot posts and a long meeting with Microsoft really got
me to thinking about whether Microsoft really likes, or doesn’t
like, the new GPL version and how its strategy, with regard to open
source in general, has been changing over the past few years.

“It got me thinking about four facts: Buyers don’t like change;
the new IT priority is interoperability; IT likes simple
homogeneity (it often seems they’d like to
return to one big mainframe); and IT is not a line organization
(and has no line authority). Knowing that, I immediately understood
Microsoft’s strategy and why, while it would never use it, it loves
the 3.0 version of the GPL…”

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