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by T. Colin Dodd
After months of hype, and voluminous tech press coverage, the big day is nigh.
The GPLv3 hits the streets Friday and according to Palamida, a software vendor with an application that can track and identify software licenses, at least 5,500 projects are expected to adopt the new draft quickly.
While that’s a small number of the estimated 370,000 projects currently licensed under the GPLv2, it’s a healthy indication that the 18 months and four drafts worth of work from the FSF has yielded a useful document after all.
Erwan at Groklaw observes:
If it wasn’t possible to please absolutely everyone on planet earth, it’s because not everyone is on the same page as to what matters most. That’s fine. GPLv3 isn’t trying to be the one and only license in the world. And it’s not a religion or a political document. It’s a license. That’s all it is. Use it if it suits your needs. It surely meets some current legal needs in a way no other license does. In fact, what it foresaw regarding patents actually came to pass while it was in the draft process.
For a little more color on the GPLv3, check out this talk by Sapna Kumar delivered at a recent TRILUG meeting.
[NOTE: It’s this Sapna Kumar, not that Sapna Kumar.]
June 28th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
While the release of the GPL v3 license comes the FUD, and Palamida hopes to help answer the lingering questions companies may have about whether THEIR open source application will make the switch or not. By offering our GPL v3 resource site: http://www.gpl3.palamida.com, we will provide continuous updates on which licenses will, will not, or already have switched over. Companies can flag licenses they care about and see the commentary related to intent on ones they didn’t even know they needed (yet). We are encouraging all developers to let us know if they have information they want included, and we’ll add it in right away. As such, we hope to further strengthen the community and remove any lingering FUD on the road to GPL v3 decision-making.
June 28th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Please note the correction to the GPL v3 URL. The correct site is located at: http://gpl3.palamida.com