[kwlug-disc] Permissive vs copyleft licenses

[Jason Eckert]

> Why big blue is attracted to GPL kernel?
> Can someone explain this elephant?
I think the main (or dare I say root) reason is what Paul mentioned earlier
- if you have lots of users and enough contributors, you are powerful.
The word "community" is often used today to refer to this phenomenon. In
other words, "community" = "powerful" today, regardless of the license used
(but in general, permissive licenses tend to build communities and power
faster for many projects).
Big blue will naturally be attracted to the biggest community.

On Sat, Dec 19, 2020 at 4:44 PM Mikalai Birukou via kwlug-disc <
kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:

>
> > I am also sufficiently old and grumpty to feel that people building
> > kernels in their spare time is not sustainable either. Maybe I am
> > wrong.
>
> Linux kernel comes to mind. It had a humble start.
>
> Years later there was this whole grsecurity thingy. Guys were pushing
> for more secure kernel patches that will benefit end user,
> desktop/android, but will reduce speed a few percent points. Ouch, big
> cloud vendors care more about these percentage points, while certain
> setups in big co may mitigate risks. In other words, how much effort
> today, in that Linux Foundation benefits smaller guy versus bigger guy.
>
> Staring at us is the question, why even big guys group around GPL-ed
> kernel? Hm-m? Why money flow into Linux Foundation, not FreeBSD?
> <disclaimer>I haven't read actual financial statements, but question
> feels correctly pointed.</disclaimer>
>
> Indeed. Why big blue is attracted to GPL kernel? Can someone explain
> this elephant?
>
>
>
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