Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 5th Nov 2005 17:51 UTC, submitted by AdriAn Avila
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When you look at Windows, you see a lot of products developed for it integrating seamlessly with the desktop. This is all the more important in the corporate setting, where third parties develop software solutions around Microsoft products.
Now, with a KDE desktop, the GPL licensing stops any kind of integration with third-party tools, unless the software vendor decides to GPL too. And we know, this might not be the right business model, in particular for small software houses, because you're throwing your source code in the open, and big corporations have big IT departments, and your support model then is obliterated.
If you want people to come in and write software "around" the desktop and principal applications, you need to let go of the GPL. OpenOffice.org, for instance, recently has realized this too, changin the license to LPGL. The GNOME desktop has a license that is non-viral. Thus, it makes a lot more sense in the corporate setting.
It is alright to mix proprietary and FOSS software. In fact, this might even be a sine qua non if FOSS is ever to succeed. The very core of systems need to be open source. What revoles around this core, particular in the applications domain, may or may not be. That's all right. We're now seeing people realize the GPL might not be the best option in some circunstances. This is something the BSD camp always understood, and I hope to see more people eventually come grips with the realization that the LGPL and BSDL make a hell of a lot more sense in a business setting, or if if you're a an ISV, than the GPL.