[Leaplist] GPL good or bad?

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 3:46 PM, Vernon Singleton <vsingleton at gmail.com> wrote:
> Someone help me.  What licenses is he talking about?  Apparently not
> the GPL.  Aren't the licenses he is talking about the kind of dual
> licenses that the GPL expressly forbids?

The GPL doesn't forbid dual licenses by the copyright holder.

If I write a program and release it under the GPL, I can also release
it under any other license I choose -- proprietary, non-proprietary,
doesn't matter. The GPL doesn't override my rights as copyright owner.
It only says once I release something under the GPL, I have to honor
those terms *to anyone receiving the code under the GPL and willing to
abide by the terms of the GPL.* But I can also say "hey, if you want
to avoid the GPL, I'll make you a deal" and license to others under a
different license.

This is why copyright assignment is a big deal for projects. Companies
and projects seek copyright assignment so they can re-license as
needed and -- sometimes -- that means having the ability to re-license
under a non-free license.

What he's saying is that MySQL AB, and Sun after purchasing MySQL AB,
have had a business selling licenses to other companies so that they
could use MySQL with non-GPL'ed applications. Oracle may not be
inclined to continue those relationships, and any company that wants
to maintain MySQL outside of Oracle can't give the same grants -- so
any company that wanted to work with MySQL for money would not be on
the same playing field as Oracle.

Before, they weren't on the same playing field as MySQL AB, but Monty
was apparently OK with that when he was still on the inside...

> He then later says, "I think that GPL is a fantastic license".
>
> Now I'm really lost.  Imagine that.

He does think it's a fantastic license -- particularly when he's the
copyright holder. :-)

Best,

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier <jzb at zonker.net>
openSUSE Community Manager
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