> If I understand his argument correctly, esr is claiming that companies can't profit from grabbing a handful of open source software and building their own product around it. The open source development model is so superior that said company will be left in the dust with their handful of code, while the open project will maintain dominance. So why scare anyone away with restrictive licenses when open source will naturally prevail anyway.
That's my understanding of ESR's argument too. One counterexample is Apple's OS X. Another counterexample, in a different way, is mySQL which offers both GPL and proprietary licences; if MySQL used the BSD license, their business model wouldn't work.
I think it's good that there are different open source licenses. People writing open source software can then choose a license that's appropriate for what they want to achieve with the software. It would be stupid if there were only BSD-style licenses, or only copyleft licenses.
That's my understanding of ESR's argument too. One counterexample is Apple's OS X. Another counterexample, in a different way, is mySQL which offers both GPL and proprietary licences; if MySQL used the BSD license, their business model wouldn't work.
I think it's good that there are different open source licenses. People writing open source software can then choose a license that's appropriate for what they want to achieve with the software. It would be stupid if there were only BSD-style licenses, or only copyleft licenses.