Bonum Certa Men Certa

Without GPLv3 Obligations, Microsoft and Its Linux Partners Stay Stuck in 2007 (Updated)

Attempts to make GPL reception a disaster have apparently failed. With Samba and other projects now confirming their upgrade to GPLv3, it seems rather obvious that Microsoft will lose access to some very valuable Free software.

The Samba team will continue to provide security fixes to the GPLv2 versions, but new features will be added only to the GPLv3 versions, the team said.

The Free Software Foundation has already released a number of elements of its Gnu's Not Unix (GNU) project under GPLv3, including the widely used "tar" command for compressing and decompressing files.


As a quick recap, Microsoft escapes the GPLv3, arrogantly denies any involvement with it, and wishfully thinks that its monovalent plans will prevail. The matter of fact is that support for GPLv3 is growing. Groklaw explains why Microsoft is knee-deep in trouble (and it knows it).

Bug fixes is code, folks. Ditto revisions, enhancements, localizations, updates, upgrades and modifications. Now tell me Microsoft, had they not run for the exit, wouldn't have been distributing software under GPLv3, let alone conveying or propagating. Puh lease.

I think after reading all this, you can see why the company decided to try to scrape the Novell vouchers off of its shoes like toilet paper stuck to the bottom. But with the vouchers having no expiration dates, I really wonder if what they have done is enough. So when I read Microsoft's statement that it isn't bound by GPLv3, I'd call it hopeful optimism that the changes they've announced will help them retreat from what would inevitably have been a huge GPLv3 impact. I read it as saying, *Now* we aren't bound, any more, because we stopped doing what we were doing that would have bound us."


Who would wish to buy 'Microsoft-approved' Linux at this stage? Those who defected are likely to end up with a crippled and out-of-date versions of GNU, among other pieces of software which can be compromised.

Off-topic side notes:

Update:: with growing support and at least 5,000 on the path to GPLv3, one might wonder about speed of adoption. According to this article, the new licence is being embraced quite quickly.

GPLv3 attracts 116 projects in first week

The third version of the General Public Licence (GPLv3) has been adopted by 116 open source projects in its first week of operation, according to an overview compiled by software risk management firm Palamida.

Recent Techrights' Posts

"Security Advantages" Explained by a Scammy "Security" Site That Uses LLMs to Spew Out Garbage
destroying the Web by saturating it with "bullshit".
 
Links 13/10/2024: Science, Politics, and Some Gemini
Links for the day
Links 13/10/2024: Writing, Remembering John Wheeler, Voice Cloning
Links for the day
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Falls to 0.7% in Geminispace (It Was Around 12% Just 2 Years Ago and 7.5% This Past February)
Let's Encrypt is down again
Gemini Links 13/10/2024: Self-hosting Snac2 and Invasion of e-ink
Links for the day
SDxCentral, which the Linux Foundation Paid to Produce Marketing SPAM, Has Now Become Slop (LLM Spew) Disguised as 'Articles'
Google should delist it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 12, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, October 12, 2024
Links 12/10/2024: More Site Blocking, China's Hostility, and Evan Gershkovich's Upcoming Book
Links for the day
Links 12/10/2024: Boeing to Cut 17,000 Jobs, Medieval Sleeping Habits, Warning About Liquidweb
Links for the day
Links 12/10/2024: Health, Safety and Climate Concerns
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/10/2024: Ensemble and Assembler
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Links 12/10/2024: TikTok Layoffs and Risk of More Wars
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 11, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, October 11, 2024
Gemini Links 11/10/2024: Against Cynicism, on Atheism, and Dropping Off The Internet
Links for the day
IBM Employees Smell Another Wave of Mass Layoffs (and Explain the Signs)
IBM currently has the policy of hiding the layoffs from shareholders and from the press using NDAs
Links 11/10/2024: Lots More Censorship and Growing Concerns About Health Impact of Social Control Media
Links for the day
Going Almost 4.5 Decades Back to Find 'Dirt' on a Person
That incident was 42.5 years ago. Is that how far some people would go in an effort to discredit a person?
XBox is Dead. This is Just the Beginning.
the main reason Microsoft bought Activision/Blizzard was to hide the growing losses and failure of XBox
The Risk to the "Linux" Brand
Brands that are not guarded from misuse/abuse will inevitably lose their original meaning and their value
Gemini Links 11/10/2024: Deploying Common Lisp Programs and Examining FreeBSD
Links for the day
Links 11/10/2024: Discord Still Blocked in Turkey, Google Might be Split
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 10, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, October 10, 2024