July 2nd, 2007
It's finished. It's done. GPVv3 that is.
Why is this GNU smiling?
Because with a political flourish the Free Software Foundation has released the final versions of both GPLv3 and LGPLv3.
IBM has given its blessing but there is, as yet, no white smoke rising from Portland, where Linus Torvalds has expressed his preference for GPLv2.
The new license makes an explicit grant of patents on GPL code, and aims to prevent future Microsoft-Novell deals, in which patent claims are used for competitive advantage.
Torvalds is most unhappy about the “anti-Tivoization” provisions of the new license, which mandate that people be allowed to modify GPL code when it’s found inside hardware. TiVos run on Linux, but can’t be modified inside it.
In addition to Linux, GPLv3 also faces threats from Google, which prefers Apache licenses that protect its commercial rights.
So, are you making the switch?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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