ESR: "We Don't Need the GPL Anymore"

[Ross Boylan]

On Tue, Jul 12, 2005 at 01:31:12PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
...
> 
> In any event, hardly anyone bothered to fairly consider Eric's point,
> e.g., "As far back as 1998, I suspected that allegiance to the GPL is
> actually evidence that open source developers don't really believe their
> own story. That is, if we really believe that open source is a superior
> system of production, and therefore that it will drive out closed source
> in a free market, then why do we think we _need_ infectious licensing?" 
> 
This point doesn't make much sense to me.  GPL or other licensing is
part of the "open source system of production."

Others have already pointed out that this kind of market-oriented
logic is not the only justification for GPL anyway.

Ross Boylan