ChiefNode

GPL thwarts a company's business model

Nessus decided to close its source code, but still distribute their product freely, because a "loophole" in the GPL allowed their code to be easily used by their competitors. Companies often open their code after the product is established, but this move is unusual. We've always advised software developers that the GPL does not meet all goals, and this is a good example where "source available" can be good, but the GPL is not necessarily the mechanism to accomplish that.

posted by Dana Bostrom @ 19:00