[GUFSC] GNU/Linux, the GPL, and a new model for software innovation

[grutz]

---------- Mensagem original -----------

De      : quilombodigital-admin@brlivre.sytes.net
Para    : QuilomboDigital <quilombodigital@brlivre.sytes.net>
Cc      : 
Data    : Wed, 28 Aug 2002 16:36:50 -0300 (BRT)
Assunto : [QuilomboDigital] Linux, the GPL, and a new model for software innovation


O seguinte artigo, de um aluno de Lawrence Lessig na Stanford Law School,
analisa a licen=E7a GPL, e como a sua aceita=E7=E3o vem aumentando em todo 
mundo.

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Increasingly, software is going 'open source,' with increasingly good 
results. Linux, the most visible of open-source software, is rapidly 
gaining ground in both embedded and server software markets, and even 
begins to make inroads on the desktop.

This is particularly interesting given the peculiar licensing structure 
that governs it: the GNU General Public License (GPL). This license 
'promises' cannibalization of intellectual property, but does not quite 
deliver on this promise, and so has attracted the affection of mammoth 
electronics companies (normally IP-protective) who see Linux as their key 
to the future. In turn, this most 'anti-IP' of licenses is arguably doing 
more to foster innovation than patents or copyrights ever have.

In this whitepaper, Matt Asay (former Linux naysayer-turned-disciple) 
analyzes the GPL, picking apart what it means (and does not mean) for 
users, and whether it is enforceable. Asay also details how its terms 
inhibit and foster innovation, and why we should care. In this next 
generation of software, those who understand 'copyleft' licenses like the 
GPL will have the upper-hand, and will be best positioned to take on 
closed-source shops like Microsoft.

http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/misc/asay-paper.pdf