> The GPL doesn't seem to have been much of a barrier to Linksys, et al
> (although that particular company acknowledged their error to some
> extent). I have second-hand knowledge of a very large software company
> that has distributed modified versions of GCC in binary form without
> providing source for those modifications, and when asked for the source,
> flatly refused to provide it.
I know that kind of thing is going to happen, but I don't have to approve. '(Ugh, I sound like a parent talking to my kid about (sex|drinking|smoking|drugs|windows))
> Personally, I prefer the BSD license, which is more "free" by any
> objective standard than the GPL.
Well, we could flame back and forth for years about this, but how one feels on this issue really depends on the perspective in which you view software freedom. "Is it more free if I can distribute this generation as my own without source, or is it more free if the users are guaranteed the somewhat more limited freedom of its descendants?" Do I grant myself complete, anarchic freedom, possibly condemning my progeny to lives of slavery, or do I agree to live within a reasonably free set of rules, thereby guaranteeing that future generations will have the same liberty I possess?
> From a security and reliability
> perspective, we're all better off if more "corporate juggernauts"
> assimilate good open source code rather than writing their own (crappy)
> version.
I partially agree, in the sense that the sharing of source benefits everyone. OTOH, the juggernaut that assimilates OSS code and releases its improvements is better than the juggernaut that hoards its secrets.
Levi
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