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SFLC Finds One New GPL Violation Per Day
eldavojohn writes "In July, the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) leveled the finger at Microsoft for a GPL violation but how often does this actually happen? Sunday, Brad M. Kuhn (tech director at the SFLC) stated in his blog that since August of 2009 he has been finding about one per day. So why is it that we have only covered a handful of these cases in the news? Brad offers sage wisdom; surprisingly, he recommends, 'Don't go public first. Back around late 1999, when I found my first GPL violation from scratch, I wanted to post it to every mailing list I could find and shame that company that failed to respect and cooperate with the software freedom community. I'm glad that I didn't do that, because I've since seen similar actions destroy the lines of communication with violators, and make resolution tougher.' Public shame is evidently not always the best answer. Ars has a few more details and notes that (in accordance with Brad's advice) lawsuits are usually a dead last resort."
That's why I use real free and open source licenses, non abominations like the GPL. Making your software "free" and then fighting people using it with legal pressure, eh?
I put everything in the public domain, and I sleep well at night without having nightmares that someone might have violated my license.
Buy the software if you want it.
Don't buy the software if you don't want it.
No one but the most ardent of internet nerds gives a shit about open-source software licensing.
You can bitch and moan all day long, and in the end the most you'll get is a link to the source code of the open source shit they used. Big fucking whoop.
Or do you want your router to come with a printout of the source code for the shit it's running?