The end of Badgeware

The end of Badgeware

Posted Jul 26, 2007 7:23 UTC (Thu) by BrucePerens (subscriber, #2510)
In reply to: Is this a blunder, or just too subtle for me? by rickmoen
Parent article: SugarCRM goes to GPLv3

SugarCRM and its ilk have to balance pressure between what their customers will accept in a license and what their own company wants in a license. While there is an FSF-approved version of GPL 3 that addresses the ASP loophole, the Affero GPL3, they aren't using that one. Nor is MySQL using a license that closes a similar loophole. It's clear that you can use MySQL with proprietary software and without buying a commercial license, as long as you use a properly-licensed client library rather than the one that comes with MySQL. In MySQL's case, the company offers enough desirable services that people buy the commercial license anyway. Perhaps SugarCRM is expecting that customers will pay to get out of some of GPL3's provisions regardless of whether it addresses the ASP loophole or not, or perhaps they think that they can win the commercial licenses as MySQL does, with services.

Similarly, lots of folks tell us that BSD licensing has protected them adequately (although the failures are more obvious in this case).

Whatever the reason, it is good to see that folks like Ross Mayfield and Matt Asay have become convinced that badgeware isn't the way to go.

Bruce

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