Why there is so much momentum for Linux among industry leaders

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

On the am-info@essential.org list, there has been some discussion
about the relative pluses and minuses of the GNU Public License
(GPL) and the Library GNU Public License, known as LGPL, the 
so called "copyleft" approach in the license for the Linux
Kernel and much of the Linux platform.  

Brett Glass is sending a flood of messages to the 
list outlining an alarmist view, that this licensing approach
is a threat to the welfare of programmers everywhere.  Anyone
who has watched GPL flame wars can appreciate how much bandwidth
can be used on these discussions, and if people want, they can look
at the AM-INFO archives for examples.  
http://lists.essential.org/am-info/

Our take on the GPL is that there are (a) natural boundaries
of what types of software will be developed for free under
the GPL, and (b) that the GPL copyleft scheme provides important
protections against any one firm hijacking a platform.  Here
is one note on this topic.  Jamie


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Subject: Why there is so much momentum for Linux among industry leaders
   Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 11:20:16 -0500
  From:  James Love <love@cptech.org>
    To: Multiple recipients of list AM-INFO <am-info@essential.org>


In my opinion, the reason why the industry is rallying around Linux as a
server platform is because the Linux kernel and many of its components
are licensed under the GPL and the LGPL.

This doesn't mean that the CEOs of IBM, Sybase, Oracle, Sun, Corel,
Netscape, and all the others are communists or hate private property.  

The reasons why the GPL and LGPL are so important is that they provide
everyone with protection against one firm hijacking the platform.  Even
RedHat, which is becoming the standard setting firm right now, can't do
this, under the GPL.  

Imagine if Linux wasn't under the GPL, and RedHat and Intel hired
Linus.  At that point, the industry consensus would evaporate.  

The GPL and LGPL are not some licensing systems that the CEO's just
don't understand, as Brett would suggest.   They are the reason for the
confidence in the future openness of the platform.  

The GPL is a form of compulsory licensing that is a very practical way
to deal with platforms that could become sources of monopoly power and
anticompetitive abuse.

What the private sector has figured out is that they can release
proprietary products that work on the GNU platform, without becoming GNU
themselves.  And they will always have guaranteed access to the
underlying code of the platform in order to make interoperable products.

  Jamie



-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is