Re: GPL and economics

On Thu, 13 Jun 2002, Francois Gouget wrote:

> You got it all wrong:
> 1. 'proprietary' and 'GPL license' are antithetic.

They're not, but I've already addressed this point several times now.

> 2. So let's forget about the 'proprietary' part and see that part about
> the "monopoly under the GPL license". Well, this is impossible too. You
> cannot have a monopoly based on GPL software.

If GPL software keeps competitors from developing non-GPL, then that GPL 
software can be considered an effective monopoly, despite the fact that 
anyone can improve that GPL code.  Antitrust laws are designed to address 
economic effects of monopoly, and whether or not you choose to label such 
GPL code as a "monopoly", the economic effects could be indistinguishable, 
making arguments over the semantics of "monopoly" a moot point.

Deven