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Why I Love The GPL

Posted by michael on from the when-you-care-enough-to-send-the-very-best dept.

Roblimo writes "'There are a lot of good reasons to like the GPL: the GNU Public License. For one thing, it's a David and Goliath kind of thing. It's the little guy standing up to the corporate behemoths that run rough-shod over our daily lives by virtue of their influence, legal and otherwise, on government. For another, it's virtuous.' These are the opening words to a NewsForge article praising the GPL by Joe Barr. Now and then we forget how much of the software we use and love is made possible by the General Public License. Thanks for reminding us, Joe. (NewsForge and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.)"

2 of 488 comments (clear)

  1. Because... by gustgr · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    ... Richard Stallman is hot?

  2. Why I don't love the GPL by stecker · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The GPL is cowardly.

    If you want your software to be free - free on both counts, release it without any restrictions into the public domain. It seems that most GPL developers are so scared that someone is going to take their software and make money on it - or worse still, take control over their project. If their intellectual contribution is so valuable, then they will retain de facto control no matter what - and so the why the #$#^ care so much if someone else makes money off of software that includes your work. That's real charity - not the cowardly selfish charity that the GPL embodies.