"At first glance, the FSF and the Commission attacks on Microsoft appear to be unrelated. But the common thread is this: the attacks are based on a lack of faith that consumer demand will lead a market to where consumers want it to be. It is based on a faulty assumption that a company can use its intellectual property to harm competition rather than fuel it."
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Member since:2005-07-06
I know this is a troll, but it does bring up an [unintended] good point. You can't force someone to release a closed-source version of a GPL'd product. In fact, even if Torvalds went completely nuts and married Steve Ballmer, even if he wanted to, he couldn't. That's always refreshing to me. Code lives beyond individuals.
Having said that, it does bring up a question in my mind. How do products like Nessus switch to a closed-source license? Obviously any code prior to that point can be still used (it can't be unreleased). However, how to they create future closed-source work based off of their existing GPL code. Aren't they themselves violating the GPL. Just wondering.
Member since:2006-07-24
However, how to they create future closed-source work based off of their existing GPL code. Aren't they themselves violating the GPL. Just wondering.
If you yourself wrote 100% of the code in a piece of software, you're the copyright holder and as such, you have the right to re-release it under any license you so choose. Linus can't do that because he's not the copyright holder of 100% of Linux, but it is possible for some people to.
Of course, you still can't get rid of the GPLed version that's out there, since the GPL specifically waives your right to revoke the license. So unless your proprietary version is substantially different than the existing GPL version, it's likely that nobody will use your new release. Even if it is different, it's quite possible that some irate users will fork the last good GPL version of your software and take it in a new direction, which is within their rights to do since you released it to them under the GPL.
Member since:
2007-02-22
If people should be forced to sell products that they don't want because some person on the Internet thinks it would be a good thing, then I propose that we force Linus Torvalds (et al) to release a closed-source version of Linux.