Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Making The GPL Easier For Companies To Swallow

Posted by timothy on from the hey-this-stuff-tastes-free dept.

stupidNewbie writes "There is a new GPL "wrapper" gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. Dubbed O-STEP, the Open Source Threshold Escrow Program allows vendors to license their products until so many millions are made, then agree to release the code under GPL. This sounds like a good bridge for companies looking to tap into the strengths of open source distribution." Starting from zero, it can certainly gain momentum quickly -- sounds like a good idea though.

1 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. They'll never reach the threshold. by jridley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a friend who used to (years ago) be an accountant in the record industry. Their books were set up to NEVER show a profit. It wasn't illegal, and if you didn't know about it and agreed to a percentage of profit, you were just screwed.

    Unless they're very careful with wording on this, companies will just set things up so that the threshold is never reached.

    If they ARE careful enough that no legal loophole is available, I suspect that companies will consider this a time bomb and avoid it anyway.