Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> nemesis wrote:
> > How many big enterprises contribute code to the *BSDs
>
> Well, MIT, and Berkeley, for example?  Hence the name of the software and
> the name of the license?

Those are academia.  What about industry players?

> All the stuff like OpenAL, Apache, etc that don't use the GPL?

Yes, Apache and its wealth of web and java tools are popular too.  Even
Microsoft is contributing to them, as well as Sun and IBM.  Web tools are of
immediate usefulness to everyone, not just Linux or GNU.  And, as I understand
it, it powers many proprietary tools of those companies (so far, not from
Microsoft).

> > without fear of their good work ending up powering their competition products,
>
> Why is that bad? The software is still getting improved.

That's true when it's GPL'd and truly getting improved for everyone, not when
it's released under some promiscuous licensing, some competitor picks it up,
makes it better and power their product with the superior modification and
pisses and laughs on your face.

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