Hacker News Reader

Comment by globular-toast | Hacker News Reader

> The subset of them who are GPL advocates are simply confused though. GPL is not possible in a world without copyright

I think you are confused. We don't want the GPL. The GPL is a pragmatic solution to make software free in a world with copyright.

View on HN

So you’re fine with software provided as opaque binaries without source code or only as SaaS? Because without copyright you’re going to get more of that and no licence is going to stop that.

No, of course I'm not ok with that! But trying to get rid of copyright for software and make access to source code a right is a huge task. That's why the GPL is a pragmatic solution. The GPL is something we can use today to build a foundation of free software and make the idea of software freedom normal and expected. This smooths the way towards a future where we don't need the GPL, but we've got a long way to go yet.

Licences like MIT do absolutely nothing up further this goal. They don't even try to do it today even though we know it can be done. It seems convenient for software you might use now, but to contribute to it? It doesn't give developers any guarantee that their work will be received as free software by future users. You're essentially working for corporations for free. I want my work to be available for everyone.

[MIT] doesn't give developers any guarantee

I assure you GPL doesn't either. You can jump up and down furiously waving GPL all you want. Nothing short of a paid legal team would enforce it.

And even the threat of that (and *GPL’s viral nature) makes it INCREDIBLY unlikely legal teams allow employees to even use binaries of the code on their workstations. Of course nothing is actually stopping them, and it would be hard to prove it if they did, but there is at least some semblance of a threat.

MIT and similar are simply roundabout ways to make it public domain.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com