ESR: 'We Don't Need the GPL Anymore' (O'ReillyNet) [LWN.net]

ESR: 'We Don't Need the GPL Anymore' (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Jul 2, 2005 6:07 UTC (Sat) by rqosa (guest, #24136)
In reply to: ESR: 'We Don't Need the GPL Anymore' (O'ReillyNet) by QuisUtDeus
Parent article: ESR: 'We Don't Need the GPL Anymore' (O'ReillyNet)

> Could it be that the failure of the BSD-related systems to enjoy growth comparable to Linux (even now, after the fame of Linux has brought more attention to them) is due in part to their not using the GPL?

Probably, but another reason is that Linux became available about half a year before 386BSD (the first complete unencumbered BSD kernel), and even then there was the USL vs. UCB lawsuit which went on for several years.

However, for the same reason that proprietary forks of BSD-licensed code are possible, so are GPL forks. If an unencumbered BSD kernel had been released before Linux, maybe there would have been a GPL fork of it which would have gone on to be more popular than Linux. (Well, it would have had to have been GPL+exception to accomodate the advertising clause, similar to the GnomeMeeting license.)

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