Saturday, November 10, 2007

Good article about GPLv3

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html

I like the four free spirits mentioned in the article.

"Nobody should be restricted by the software they use. There are four freedoms that every user should have:

  • the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
  • the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors,
  • the freedom to change the software to suit your needs, and
  • the freedom to share the changes you make.

When a program offers users all of these freedoms, we call it free software."

From the article, it seems GPLv3 is actually better than GPLv2. Initially I hear quite some negative review about GPLv3, but this article seems to clarify some doubts I had before.

I think both the permissive licenses (I like BSD style licenses) and GPL both have its places in the open source movement.

Still I have some doubts about using GPL in embedded software development. Maybe it needs some further clarifications.

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