Value, Marketing and Freedom
The Free Software Foundation speaks about Free Software but the GPL gives less freedom to authors and users of the code than e.g. the BSD license does. Why is the GPL more successful in the eyes of many people than the BSD license?
One important reason of course is marketing. There is better marketing for the GPL as a result of the success of Linux.
The other reason is the value of the software from the FSF in the 1980s. The GCC is of great value to people and the fact that it is of great value caused people to accept the license even though it does not give as much freedom as the BSDL gives.
This acceptance has not been present from the beginning. In the beginning, the whole GCC has been published under the GPL and thus could not be used to compile software that itself has not been published under the GPL. For this reason, there has been an excited discussion about the usability of GCC.
Later, the LGPL has been created and parts of the GCC (libgcc) has been put under LGPL.
As we see, people are willing to accept a reduced freedom if the value of the software gives a compensation.
Now, what happened to GPLd software in the past few years? The Free Software Foundation heavily reduced the effort in extending Free Software and instead started a campaign to _talk_ about Free Software instead. Other software meanwhile did improve or become Open Source.
It seems that these ideas help to understand why Linux people did start a campaign against Open Solaris and the CDDL....
The BSD operating systems (although they give more freedom than Linux) don't look like a real threat for Linux as there is not enough marketing for BSD based operating systems.
OpenSolaris however _is_ a real threat for Linux. OpenSolaris gives more freedom than Linux, it gives new impressing features and there is marketing.
It seems that the reason for the FUD against OpenSolaris published by Linux people is caused by the fact that product of value and freedom found in Linux is smaller than the product of value and freedom available with OpenSolaris.
A proof that OpenSolaris is on the right way?
In the long term, real freedom always wins....
One important reason of course is marketing. There is better marketing for the GPL as a result of the success of Linux.
The other reason is the value of the software from the FSF in the 1980s. The GCC is of great value to people and the fact that it is of great value caused people to accept the license even though it does not give as much freedom as the BSDL gives.
This acceptance has not been present from the beginning. In the beginning, the whole GCC has been published under the GPL and thus could not be used to compile software that itself has not been published under the GPL. For this reason, there has been an excited discussion about the usability of GCC.
Later, the LGPL has been created and parts of the GCC (libgcc) has been put under LGPL.
As we see, people are willing to accept a reduced freedom if the value of the software gives a compensation.
Now, what happened to GPLd software in the past few years? The Free Software Foundation heavily reduced the effort in extending Free Software and instead started a campaign to _talk_ about Free Software instead. Other software meanwhile did improve or become Open Source.
It seems that these ideas help to understand why Linux people did start a campaign against Open Solaris and the CDDL....
The BSD operating systems (although they give more freedom than Linux) don't look like a real threat for Linux as there is not enough marketing for BSD based operating systems.
OpenSolaris however _is_ a real threat for Linux. OpenSolaris gives more freedom than Linux, it gives new impressing features and there is marketing.
It seems that the reason for the FUD against OpenSolaris published by Linux people is caused by the fact that product of value and freedom found in Linux is smaller than the product of value and freedom available with OpenSolaris.
A proof that OpenSolaris is on the right way?
In the long term, real freedom always wins....
posted by Jörg Schilling at 4:05 AM
20 Comments:
I was curious about how someone can become a member of the OpenSolaris project. Any info?
For me the GPL isn't so much about what you can and can't do with the software, its about defining how the community of software developers on a projects relate to each other and with their users. And the GPL basically says "we are all equal, share everything".
Thats not appropriate for some communities, I haven't read Sun's new license but I imagine its similar to the licenses that Mozilla, StarOffice, etc were mostly released under - where there is a clear leader/ruler in the community, but where community members have the right to contribute (a benevolent dictatorship rather than a democracy I guess).
BSD licenses (post-advertising anyway) fail to define the rules of the community clearly. They are at best a well-run anarchic society and at worst a poorly-run anarchic society but usually somewhere in between.
I've mostly worked on GPLed software and I'm not too afraid that my code will be "stolen", not because its GPLed, but because thats just going to happen. We need to fight it when it does, but its inevitable. What the GPL does for me is define fairly clearly that I believe we should share, that I believe when we all work together on an equal footing we all benefit.
Thats how I choose to view all this anyway :)
I suggest people don't read too much into what Schily says. He thinks Solaris is this almighty perfect operating system that crushes all others: The reason Solaris is failing is because more and more people are switching to other operating systems. And yes, Linux just happens to be the one that most are switching to; BSD and QNX are also other choices.
Most of the people switching to Linux is not because its GPL, not because its associated with other Free Software, and not because the source is available. They are switching simply because it is the best product out there at this time; and as I see it, it will continue to be the best product because Linux software developers are not sitting around arguing about what license is better, or what features other operating systems have or don't have.
Linux developers code, OpenSolaris developers sit around and flame Linux developers instead of coding. Which operating system would you choose?
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Jörg Schilling, just came across your Value, Marketing and Freedom post, and you make some interesting points. I'm in the free software business, and your post definitely made me stop and think.
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