CSC 379:Week 2, Group 5
GNU General Public License
Overview
The General Public License (GPL) was created in 1989 by Richard Stallman as originally a way of allowing many projects to share source code under a unifying license. It ensures that any software that was derived from open source remains available to the general public and freely distributable.
- GPLV1
- GPLV2
- GPLV3
Discussion Questions
What is the impact of GPL use?
- Personal Software Users
- Developers - Open Source, Commercial
- Software Companies
- Industry and Business
- Non-profit organizations
- Government
- Education and Research
- Foreign Countries
What are the ethical considerations for licenses like GPL that require their adoption if work licensed under it is incorporated into a parent work, with additional stipulations that include the acceptance of the most current version of the GPL license?
What ethical considerations are highlighted by the patent sharing/protection agreement between Microsoft and Novell?