On 29-Dec-06, at 1:39 PM, jtd wrote:
any purpose u choose) are doing well. But are the dangers over? Most definetly no. If anything u have organisations with enormous resources, working very hard to subvert the gpl and the opensourcers playing right into their hands. Mono is a case in point. 3 yrs ago everyone thought why not. After the Microvell deal only an insane person would use it.
even three years ago, many people were dubious about mono - especially as against dotgnu as they felt the developmental model was not true foss. The developmental model is as important as the license if not more. Compare mysql and postgresql and you will see the difference. Mysql is dual licensed and GPL - postgres is bsd. Mysql only uses hired developers and the development path is determined by the company. Postgres uses huge number of developers, dont know if any are paid, and the development path is decided by a meritocracy. I wouldnt put any money at all on Mysql not going proprietary or collapsing or selling out any day. Ditto for any sun project released under GPL. Far more important than the license is the development model. Just because the source is released, it doesnt imply that the software is truly foss. In short there is foss and FOSS. The more a project follows the bazaar model of development, the more viable it is going to be.