The Open-Source Detector

McDutchie writes "With open-source related lawsuits on the rise, a market is developing for automated tools that detect the presence of open-source code within larger application development environments. Palamida Inc. stepped in with IP Amplifier 3.0, essentially a search tool and a database that consists of more than 38 million of the most commonly used open-source files. Something Google-inspired called CodeRank is claimed to match code against the database. Hmm... maybe someone should run it on this, or even this." Of course, some open source code is perfectly welcome in commercial software, even if that software's code is not itself open; it's no secret or surprise that Microsoft, for instance, has taken advantage in some products of BSD-licensed code.

Comments

Re:The BSD license argument

[ajwitte]

Unless they printing counterfeit bills (and I don't think they are), Microsoft does not "generate" any money. Only the government can do that.

Re:windows already has some

[FooBarWidget]

"'More free in that it imposes fewer restrictions' is one simple example."

Fewer restrictions to who? By imposing fewer restrictions like in BSD, you impose more restrictions on people who get the software from a third party. And now it's suddenly less free because those people have less freedom.
In other words: whether the BSD license is more free completely depends on one's view. It's useless to slander GPL with "OMG BSD is free and GPL is t3h evil and viral LOlololololol!!!!111"-type of posts, and frankly I'm sick and tired of them.

Re:The BSD license argument

[black mariah]

Which is why people rightly see GPL nuts as a bunch of fucking losers. Anyone that can't understand the stupidity of calling something with a "do what we tell you to do with this" clause "free as in speech" needs to be smacked with a clue by four.