Re: What about an OS monopoly under GNU license?

[Carl Beaudry <cbeaudry@usra.edu>]

stan johnson wrote:

> The question which I've not seen addressed here is whether such Berkeley
> license release *would have been* made if the GPL were not seen as an
> option. I've not seen any justification for any such assumption.

This is correct, though my post only referred to it elliptically.

It seems to me that the issue is really market competition.  The
Berkeley license places a developer in an archetypal "prisoners
dilemma."  If you allow potential competitors to take your code, tweak
it, and then hold it hostage, then your competitive position has
diminished in relative terms.  

The GPL solves that problem and maintains a level playing field even as
innovations are released.  The original inventor still has a head start
in understanding the code but no other advantages.



> The options are there and known. Your position and the positions of others
> are each more than amply clear. I can see value in each approach. Can we
> let the programmers each make their own decision?

Indeed we presently do.

And, IMHO, the Linux/FreeBSD experiments are a valid referendum on the
benefits of each.

--Carl