Sun Exec Backs GPLv3 94
Hyperbeth writes "Sun's chief open-source officer Simon Phipps said that existing work towards GPLv3 had been 'extraordinary and effective' and he said he is 'frankly amazed by the criticisms'. The article notes that Mr. Phipps' comments are somewhat surprising, given that the recent open-sourcing of Java went forward with GPLv2." From the article: "I am frankly amazed by the criticisms that have [been] levelled at the GPLv3 process. They seem to ignore the incredible and positive way it is evolving and just find fault with things that are already the subject of work... I would be very surprised if the final GPLv3 was not an effective tool for some of the communities Sun sustains or will initiate in the future."
Original Article (Score:5, Informative)
To see what I actually said, rather than relying on the ZDNet extracts, you'll find the original blog posting here [sun.com]. It's linked from the article but clearly from some of the comments above some people haven't spotted the link.
Re:Thought the summary was vacuous... (Score:3, Informative)
In fact my amazement stems from the fact that intelligent people who I respect are criticising things (like the DRM language) that have already been substantially altered, but arguing as if there has been no change to them. Sorry you find the whole thing "vacuous", you are clearly a Higher Intellect.
Re:Thought the summary was vacuous... (Score:4, Informative)
It's a hot topic and there are plenty of voices for and against. It was like this discussing the use of the GPL for the Java platform though, extensive and passionate debate right up to the last minute. In the end GPL v2 with the Classpath exception was clearly preferable, but every possible option was explored.
One key difference with Solaris though is that the base source code is already open source Free software and is in the care of the OpenSolaris community [opensolaris.org], so while Sun obviously gets a big say in what happens it's not just down to us, the community will also need to discuss it.
Re:No surprise (Score:2, Informative)