I think that you have missed the point of GPL, which is about guaranteeing that you will always be able to know (and change) what your computer does -- and that's essentially all what it does.
It doesn't force you to distribute all your programs on GPL, nor to use GPL for everything.
In general, the idea of "using X for everything" is a rather bad one, regardless of X.
But if you happen to be using Linux, then you're actually using the GPL license. If that bothers you, don't use it.
My name is Matteo and I'm a cloud solution architect and tech enthusiast. In my spare time, I work on open source software as much as I can. I simply enjoy writing software that is actually useful.
I think you have missed the point of my post. Using a library or software component licensed under GPL in one of my projects requires me to use the GPL (or compatible) myself, which I may not want to do. I don't care about the license of the software that I use as a final user, I always respect them. But as a developer, I hate to be told how I should write and distribute MY software by SOMEONE ELSE's license choice.
GPL is not about distributing YOUR software, but SOMEONE ELSE's software. If you can't accept that its author wanted its users to guarantee the freedom to decide what their computers are doing, and you don't want your users to enjoy this freedom, then just don't use it.
But stop saying that if a license prevents you from taking that freedom away from people, then it's "all but free".
Also note, that GPL does not distinguish between users and developers (as you do), because - unlike the authors of proprietary software - it does not assume the developers to be demi-gods and users to be some inferior creatures. On the contrary, it assumes that users are competent to understand and modify the software they are running, and this sort of respect is the very point of free software.
This is a great point. Also, if you're the original author (and, therefore, the sole copyright holder) of something, then you can still release it in dual/multi-licensed form with GPL among the options for the receiver. GPL isn't against that in any way -- it can't take away your rights as the copyright author.
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I think that you have missed the point of GPL, which is about guaranteeing that you will always be able to know (and change) what your computer does -- and that's essentially all what it does.
It doesn't force you to distribute all your programs on GPL, nor to use GPL for everything.
In general, the idea of "using X for everything" is a rather bad one, regardless of X.
But if you happen to be using Linux, then you're actually using the GPL license. If that bothers you, don't use it.
I think you have missed the point of my post. Using a library or software component licensed under GPL in one of my projects requires me to use the GPL (or compatible) myself, which I may not want to do. I don't care about the license of the software that I use as a final user, I always respect them. But as a developer, I hate to be told how I should write and distribute MY software by SOMEONE ELSE's license choice.
GPL is not about distributing YOUR software, but SOMEONE ELSE's software. If you can't accept that its author wanted its users to guarantee the freedom to decide what their computers are doing, and you don't want your users to enjoy this freedom, then just don't use it.
But stop saying that if a license prevents you from taking that freedom away from people, then it's "all but free".
Also note, that GPL does not distinguish between users and developers (as you do), because - unlike the authors of proprietary software - it does not assume the developers to be demi-gods and users to be some inferior creatures. On the contrary, it assumes that users are competent to understand and modify the software they are running, and this sort of respect is the very point of free software.
This is a great point. Also, if you're the original author (and, therefore, the sole copyright holder) of something, then you can still release it in dual/multi-licensed form with GPL among the options for the receiver. GPL isn't against that in any way -- it can't take away your rights as the copyright author.