The GPL and Software as a Service

“Linux Magazine’s article The GPL Has No (Networked) Future
recognizes a point that I’ve been making for years: that free
software license requirements to release source code are all
triggered by the act of distribution, and that web applications,
which are not actually ‘distributed,’ are therefore not bound by
these licenses. (See, for example, my 1999 debate with Richard
Stallman at the Wizards of OS conference in Berlin.)

“The article describes how during the GPL v3 discussions, there
was a move to close the ‘SaaS loophole’ by including some of the
provisions of the Affero General Public License or AGPL…”

Complete
Story