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But from what I hear in the Linux world, having GPLed code didn't make all hardware producers write their own drivers and publish them. Some did, others released only simpler versions, and other didn't release anything and it was up to volunteer to do it.

Between this and a Darwin world where the latter group would release good drivers but keep them close sourced, I don't think there's any advantage for the community either way.

While I do agree that Apple is most definitely not trying to build a healthy ecosystem around Darwin (or in fact _any_ ecosystem at all...), Apple itself still publishes all of its Darwin code, and hence it would have complied with the licence had that been GPL. (the only exception being drivers but that's not up to Apple, as the situation in the Linux world showed).

Apple could have still kept Aqua and the rest closed source. So using Apple as an example of a company that took but didn't give back because of the licence seems wrong.




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