Torvalds Vs. GPLv3
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on July 28, 2006 at 1:57:53 PM
In is widely known that Linus Torvalds doesn't like the changes going into the new GPL. The viral nature of using GPLed code in hardware is what is troubling. I agree with Linus that this kind of clause will stifle business development on open sources applications.
Quote
GPLv3 "basically says, 'We don't want access just to your software modifications. We want access to your hardware, too,'" Torvalds said. "I don't think it's my place as a software developer to judge how hardware works around it." But the Free Software Foundation argues that it's modernizing the license, not changing its spirit. It's seeking to prevent hardware makers from using DRM as a technological end-run around the license's legal requirements for programmer freedoms. "If you're keeping the right to modify and not conveying that right to modify, you're violating the license," said Eben Moglen, the foundation's top lawyer, in an earlier interview.