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GPLv3 Released

Posted by Zonk on from the clarity-for-the-sake-of-it dept.

A GNU Dawn writes "The GPL v3 has just been released. Among other things, the released version grandfathers in the Novell deal so that Microsoft's SLES coupons will undermine their patent threats, replaces references to the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act with more specific language, and clarifies that using BitTorrent to convey a GPLed work is not a breach of the license (it might be one, technically, in GPLv2). The GPL FAQ has been updated to cover the new changes." Commentary is available over at Linux.com (which is owned, along with Slashdot, by Sourceforge).

1 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. FSF Chief and iPhone FUD by gig · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    I saw the iPhone FUD coming out of FSF chief, that was really low class. He's like we're very interested to see if there is any GPL on there, if there is there will be hell to pay. I was like, is that FSF or BSA? Two sides of the same fucking coin is all. There is no excuse for that kind of comment.

    Apple has been using BSD since 1988, Apache since 1998, OS X since 1999, WebKit since 2003 ... how did porting them to the iPhone suddenly get some GPL on there?

    Releasing today was also low-class. If there were 365+ nerdy events this year that would be one thing, but there is no doubt Apple claimed this week six months ago. Even if it is not petty it has the appearance of petty. It's like Bill Gates showing up at D with a really low-tech multi-touch screen, oh that is pathetic. If the hottest thing at MS really was their enormous multi-touch screen, that would be a reason NOT to bring it to D, when people are asking Steve Jobs to show them his personal iPhone with all the same features but in a ready-to-ship consumer product that goes in your pocket and runs all day on batteries.

    Finally, there is something disturbing about knocking the iPhone for not being open source enough. It is clearly the market leader in phones when it comes to both open source and interoperability standards. At a time when there are no real Web browsers on phones, Apple puts in an open source, standards-compliant Web 2.0 browser and says "make Ajax if you want to be on the user's phone." The iPhone is compatible with the entire Internet instead of a menace to it because of BSD. It is a remarkable open source success story. To the extent that it has anything to do with FSF they should be proud of their contribution and to the extent that it doesn't, they should recognize that also.