Re: GPLv3 comedy unfolding -- "IBM's Mills Sounds Off On GPL, Free Software Foundation"

[Alexander Terekhov]

http://www.crn.com/software/198701024

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Barbara Darrow

IBM's Mills Sounds Off On GPL, Free Software Foundation

IBM is a big fan of Linux. Of the GPL, not so much. 

Now the controversial GPL3, still a work in progress, is coming into
focus, that hasn't changed much. 

Asked by CRN about his take on the third implementation of the GNU
General Public License, IBM Software General Manager Steve Mills didn't
mince words. 

"At some point you become so shrill and beyond what's required that you
lose the audience and the audience moves on to something else," he said. 

Mills was referring to the Free Software Foundation's attempt to
restrict the use of cross-patent licenses in the new GPL. those
restructions, FSF proponents say, could lead to a fork in the Linux
code. 

"At some point you become so shrill and beyond what's required that you
lose the audience and the audience moves on to something else," he said. 

"We'll have to see what finally evolves through the [GPL] process, it's
going through an update and the Free Software Foundation has a
particular view of free software. Free software is a wonderful thing but
there's also a business model." 

"We think there are other licensing techniques, the Apache license and
others are somewhat less onerous. We use them ourselves. We don't use
the GPL for reasons of its restrictions," Mills said. 

Mills spoke at an IBM Research show-and-tell for reporters and analysts
in Cambridge, Mass. on Wednesday. 
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regards,
alexander.

--
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