GPL: why Eric Raymond is wrong

[ Thanks to Sam Varghese for this link. ]

"Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation, and creator of the General Public Licence, used the term free software to push his belief that software should give the user four rights: freedom to run the program for any purpose; to study the source code and then change it if one wishes; freedom to help one's neighbour and freedom to re-distribute the software.

"But these rights have often got in the way of businesses doing deals. The GPL has been the object of much fear, uncertainty and doubt, with people describing it as "viral".

"In what is reminiscent of what was gone through when the OSD was released 10 years go, Raymond has come out with a short article detailing why he thinks there is an economic case against the GPL"

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Has the GPL out-lived its usefulness?(Apr 29, 2009)
• The GPL - not fade away(Mar 30, 2009)
• Open Source Decade: 10 Years After the Free Software Summit(Apr 08, 2008)
• A Look Back at 10 Years of OSI(Feb 13, 2008)
• Open Source Licensing: SugarCRM's Original Way to Abide the GPL(Dec 06, 2007)
• Microsoft Launching Legal Threats... Against Its Customers(Oct 10, 2007)
• My Resolve to Treat Microsoft Like Any Other License Submitter is Being Sorely Tested(Aug 31, 2007)
• Linspire Deal: What Will ESR and Shuttleworth Do Now?(Jun 15, 2007)