[Gambas-user] Gambas 2 and GPL 3

[Rob]

On Thursday 08 November 2007 02:28, timothy wrote:
> For example using iTunes with Linux is impossible now. Outlawing
> DRM would make it even more difficult to overcome the problems in
> the future.

Well, the GPLv3 doesn't outlaw DRM, just makes it harder for companies 
to get around the intent of the GPL by creating devices using the 
community's code and locking them down such that the code can't be 
modified anymore.  

Companies are free to continue to make locked-down devices, just as 
shareware makers continued to be free to put absurd, onerous copy 
protection on their software when the GPL and GPLv2 first came out 
(and there was certainly howling back then about how GNU represented 
communism and how copyleft was destined to fail because it was bad 
for business, but no one was paying much attention yet.)  They're 
just not free to use our code in such a scheme anymore.  

I personally am fine with companies NOT being able to do that using my 
code.  If I wanted to allow that to happen I'd release code under the 
BSD license, not the GPL, so I'm grateful for version 3.  Linus 
couldn't easily push the kernel to GPLv3 if he tried, due to all the 
code contributions from people who aren't involved anymore, but I'd 
be pretty surprised if anyone managed to successfully maintain a 
(L)GPLv2 fork of glibc, binutils et al. for use in the next round of 
Tivos and Playstations.

As far as Gambas goes, though, I think "version 2 or later" is good 
because it avoids controversy altogether.  

Rob