“Microsoft sought to avoid tangling itself up in the GPL license
when it struck a deal with Novell. Rather than pay Novell, it
agreed to hand out SUSE Linux coupons to consumers. It stayed at
arms length from distributing the code… But did Microsoft
circumvent the trap of GPLv2 by stepping into the snare of
GPLv3?“Those coupons don’t really have a set of contractual
limitations built into them. For example, there’s no expiration
date. Microsoft has been scattering millions of dollars of
purchasing power for GPL code to the four winds, and having done
so, it’s issued a press release saying it certainly doesn’t want to
subsidize GPLv3 purchases…”
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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