[nycbug-talk] wasabi

[George Bourozikas]

On Monday 23 January 2006 12:21 pm, Yusuke Shinyama wrote:
> Sadly they're called "a new FUD angle" in LWN...
> http://lwn.net/Articles/168497/
>
> (I think the LWN guys are too hostile.
> It seems the site becomes increasingly more slashdottish recently.)
>
> Yusuke
>
> pete wright <nomadlogic at gmail.com> wrote:
> > since we are throwing links around today:
> >
> > http://www.wasabisystems.com/gpl/index.html
> >
> > probably one of the best written explanations regarding GPL's impact
> > from a business perspective IMO.
> >
> > -pete

Quoting from the Wasabi website:

   The GPL has achieved what it set out to achieve: it is virtually
   impossible to make money selling Linux, since any Linux distribution
   that is sold must also be made open source, enabling users and
   competitors to obtain it for free.

This flies in the face of empirical observation: RedHat and IBM come to 
mind and there are others.  Furthermore it does not explore the 
philosophical reasons behind teh GPL - some people may just object to 
mega-corporations using their software for profit and without 
attribution.

Don't get me wrong: there are valid philosophical and business reasons 
to choose the GPL, BSD or any of a number of licenses just as there are 
good reasons to use BSD over Linux and vice versa, but this 
presentation is kind of FUD'ish.

-- 
George Bourozikas