this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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I was interested until the website proudly stated that the kernel is not under the GPL, but the weak copyleft MPL. Great, an alternative to the linux kernel for companies to steal, yay...
I'd love to live in a solarpunk world where intellectual property was abolished. In the meantime, compromises are met and it's no horror at all.
I feel you, but maybe GPL is just an unpopular option (linux kernel never upgraded to v3, only a few oss web apps use affero, etc.)
As much as I love libre software, I have to say that Linux had bad support for drivers because of it, and its mainstream adoption for desktops was hindered for decades because of it. Only today, we celebrate a 5% user share.
An alternative permissive license doesn't immediately mean companies will do the worst. We live under capitalism, perhaps we can't just change that with a license. Their decision might future-proof the project to higher heights that are hardly seen today.
Look at Android, yeah it's a hell of a locked down system when you buy a new phone. But it works quite well, and their user share is at the very top (or second to Apple? Maybe, if you're American). However, Android allows us to have LineageOS and Graphene (which is MIT license, but that's beyond my point, iiuc it could very well be GPL for all of its customizations), and no matter which license these forks(?) use, privacy is preserved and taken to new levels. Meanwhile, Android or any of these alternatives support ARM architecture with great integrated video acceleration that is low power. These are not simply "nice features" but a requirement (e.g. saves energy, improved user experience, competitive to other platforms, etc.) and privacy is not really compromised.
P.s. I'm suprising myself with this comment, nearly 10 years ago I was obsessed with libre software. Today I find it more of a niche hobby, or intellectual challenge. Valuable nonetheless, sure. And hell yeah I'd like to have a linux phone which fully supports all software and hardware... But then, reality.
Eh? I daily drive only FOSS software with basically no problems, the only exception I make is for firmware and JS, firmware because it's realistically not a choice and JS because it's extremely sandboxed and I use librewolf with container tabs to isolate cookies etc cross sites, even drivers are not exempt from this rule. FOSS specifically being programs under a GNU approved free software license or software found in the Debian main repos and therefore complying with the DFSG. It's, surprisingly easy. In fact when I made the decision to do this it was primarily because I needed so little proprietary software that it just wasn't even much of a challenge?? I guess my main point in saying this is I don't get where you're coming from, I'd love a Linux phone but it's not realistic there, but on the desktop? It's extremely realistic??
Linux made huge strides in the last years. But if we go back 10 years, or 15 things were quite bleak. And there are many reasons to that. It's license is one. That's my point. Correct or not, okay.
And Linux never embraced GPLv3 for reasons that are in common probably as to why this project chose a permissive license. So, I think we should all support them in that regard.
The decision not to support GPLv3 makes sense and I understand Linus' perspective on that. GPLv3 branched out into something beyond traditional copy left by ensuring that users can run the modified code by restricting hardware design. That's a separate thing. I disagree with the decision to go with a permissive license in most cases including this one. Permissive licensing leads to the problems the BSDs have with companies like Sony taking the code and running with it without giving back and it's why I prefer strong copy left licenses like GPLv2 or v3.
One other thing, yes it was rough in the past but now due to the massive market penetration Linux has we have a large swath of GPLv2 drivers making it far less of a relevant issue.
We can't really know if BSD "lost" a sell to Sony. Right? I ask sincerely, maybe there's more to the case you cited.
From my naïve view, this new project can win new associated companies and get some income to pay new devs when some maturity is achieved on this framework since it's quite innovative and those companies can really participate whereas with a GPL they would just be left out.
I only mean to say that we might be discussing if the glass is half empty or half full. That's why I'm trying to put into this new perspective (like considering GrapheneOS as an example. In the long run, the license might not be that much of a hurdle. At least let's hope that's the case since they probably won't change to GPL.