“For anyone who has avoided free software licensing for the last
five years, the BSD license is very simple: give the authors credit
in the source code, and don’t sue the authors if it breaks. There
is no requirement to distribute any modifications to anyone.
Alternately, the GPL requires that source code of modifications be
made available when a modified product is redistributed.”
“Every week sees a new argument on some public forum about how
the GPL is free, and the BSD license isn’t. Someone responds that
the BSD license is more free than the GPL. Eventually, someone
drags out the words “communist” and “corporate exploitation,” and
all hope for rational discussion vanishes like free Jolt cola on
the trade show floor. It’s better than mud wrestling or Jerry
Springer.”
“The GPL is very good at what it does. The people who use
the BSD license simply want something very different than the
people who use the GPL. The license has different goals and
different motivations than those of the GPL.”