Re: Again: list of advantages of the xGPL

On Wed, 19 Jun 2002, Sean C. Farley wrote:

> > >Would the Transgaming situation have played out much differently
> > >under the LGPL, though?  If they wanted to follow the "Street
> > >Performers Protocol" under the LGPL, they'd be unable to release ANY
> > >code until meeting their threshold.  How would this have really been
> > >an improvement?
> >
> > If I understood correctly, under the LGPL they would HAVE TO release
> > their improvements.
> 
> They probably would never have existed in the first place.  This would
> have resulted in a loss of jobs.

They could exist, but they'd have to be kept COMPLETELY secret until it's 
time to release the code under the LGPL.  (Of course, this would invite 
accusations of vaporware, which could be as damaging as what did happen.)

> As proof that the license did not make Linux, the license that Red Hat
> Database (PostgreSQL) is under is the BSD license.  I bet the company
> funded improvements on PostgreSQL will be higher than MySQL (under GPL).

That's an interesting suggestion.  Of course, it's apples and oranges to 
some degree, since PostgreSQL is considered by many to be a more solid 
database, and the closest equivalent to Oracle in the open-source world...

Regardless, I think Apache is enough of a counter-example to prove that you 
don't always need copyleft protection to be successful.

Deven