Calling the GPL evil is a bit too... religious.
-mwb1100
I've certainly got a lot of animosity - no denying that - but not towards the GPL.
My animosity is purely directed towards the GPL zealots, the FSF, and those that try to hijack the meaning of the words "open" or "free" for their own political agendas. Animosity? That's putting how I feel mildly... It's got a 1984 stench to it.
I've got nothing against the GPL itself. But there's a definite stench that surrounds it.
Here's an example of the GPL religious stench that sickens me...
Developer ABC comes up with a cool piece of software called 123 and releases it as GPL. Developer XYZ come around and says, "hey - that's pretty cool. I can't use GPL software, so can I buy a commercial use license?" ABC scoffs and spouts some religious sermon about <insert insanity here>.
Huh? What's that about? And it happens. It's perfectly within ABC's rights to be a jackass about his software, but that's what I don't get. Why do that? XYZ is ready to put money in your hands? Why not take it? ABC can rewrite a new license for XYZ. Just seems crazy.
For the large projects it's almost impossible to do that because... who gets the money? A lot of people worked on it... So... ??? It's a bad situation there. That's where the GPL kind of screws itself, or rather, screws the developers behind the software because they can never benefit from their work directly.
There are certainly good and bad developers (from a 'personal' perspective I mean) out there. I had one guy approach me to use his software and I told him flat out - no - it's GPL and I can't go within a thousand miles of it. He turned around and released it as LGPL as well, which made it possible to use. A fantastic example of someone not blined by the religiosity that often surrounds the GPL. He was practical about it and wanted people to use his software. That kind of developer I like.
The LGPL is a great license for everyone. It keeps things free for users, and allows commercial developers to get involved as well.
It's very often important not to exclude commercial developers because they can give a project momentum that it otherwise might not get.
Got to run now.