The open source phenomenon rolls on. Its power and value are significant. And yet, proponents would seem to be guilty of overreach. This overreach may not be such a good thing for the open source movement in the long run.
The good people at Groklaw have a post up from yesterday entitled, “The GPL Barter Cycle — A Graphic” which endeavors to elucidate how open source software is a self-contained barter cycle. The process diagram is lucid and the thesis it explains is similarly clear. But, there appears to me to be something missing.
For those that don’t know, GPL is a “copyleft” license. It provides a framework by which software source code can be freely distributed, and ensures that any derivative work carries the same expectation of free distribution. Which, I think this is a great thing, isn’t it? Because of GPL, we have innovations that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. Mobile devices, embedded devices, start-up businesses; a great many things have been the beneficiary of the open source movement.
