Kernel developers' position on GPLv3

Posted Sep 24, 2006 9:55 UTC (Sun) by man_ls (guest, #15091)
In reply to: Kernel developers' position on GPLv3 by jarto
Parent article: Kernel developers' position on GPLv3

As it's a smart thing for hardware companies to produce open devices, there's no point to force them to do it.

Except that big media companies can conceivably buy a law that forces all computers to be locked down and enforce DRM. It has happened before; remember Macrovision and VCR anticopy provisions in the DMCA. With this provision in place this law would effectively outlaw all GPLv3 code, and would therefore have little hope of succeeding.

Also, don't expect that all businesses follow the most rational path, even if it is in their benefit. Remember what happened with Unix? Each company wanted to have its proprietary advantage, so they collectively weakened their market. BSD versions suffered the same fate. When Linux came along, forcing companies to do the smart thing and share their modifications, it swept the competition away.