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Open-source Licensing: BSD or GPL?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the six-on-one-hand dept.

BSDForums.org writes "Mark Brewer of Covalent Technologies argues BSD is better for the enterprise. As open source licensing models, both the Berkeley Software Distribution license and the General Public License have advantages and disadvantages. But in the end, the BSD offers more benefits to enterprise customers. Matt Asay of Novell makes the case for GPL. He says, no one open source license is ideal in every circumstance. Different licenses serve different ends. Berkeley Software Distribution-style licenses have been used to govern the development of exceptional open source projects such as Apache. Clearly, BSD has its strengths. However, all things being equal, he prefers the General Public License (GPL ). The GPL is one of the most exciting, innovative capitalist tools ever created. The GPL breaks down walls between vendors and customers while enabling strong competitive differentiation. Which is a better licensing model for open-source applications: BSD or GPL? What do you think?"

3 of 631 comments (clear)

  1. Get with the 90s! by PornMaster · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    notepad.exe!!!

    OMFG, dudex0r!

    --
    500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
  2. -1 Troll by TardisX · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Where do I moderate slashdot stories as trolls?

    --

    Command attempted to use minibuffer while in minibuffer
  3. Re:Danger Will Robinson, Danger! by Ramses0 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    BSD is clearly too loose

    My head almost exploded, as you spelled both "too", and "loose" correctly for the first time in such close proximity on /. I actually had a tough time understanding you for a sec. mod_gramar == off ; brainctl graceful! :^)

    --Robert