In his speech, Sun Microsystems president Jonathan Schwartz said that the GPL expressly limits choice by disallowing the inclusion of non-GPL code into GPL projects. He added that it “exports a form of IP colonialism to nations seeking to create their own means of production.”
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Sun Microsystems president Jonathan Schwartz emphasized the company’s support for the open-source software movement, but criticized the General Public License (GPL), a popular licensing model in the open-source community.
Schwartz expressed his views during a keynote at the Open Source Business Conference, a gathering that brings together I.T. buyers and vendors, CIOs and venture capitalists interested in open-source companies.
He acknowledged that his views about the GPL would likely be unpopular, but that Sun would continue to eschew the model for future projects.
Political Debate
The GPL governs a significant number of projects in the open-source software community. But its use is tantamount to economic imperialism, Schwartz believes.
In his speech, Schwartz said that the GPL expressly limits choice by disallowing the inclusion of non-GPL code into GPL projects. He added that it “exports a form of IP colonialism to nations seeking to create their own means of production.”
Those who use the GPL as a foundation for proprietary software dislike having to give their intellectual property “back into the world,” Schwartz said.
Unfolding Roadmap
As an alternative to the GPL, Schwartz praised the company’s Community Development and Distribution License (CDDL), a variant of the Mozilla Public License.
Sun has already started using this license strategy with the release of Solaris source code.
In addition to his GPL comments, Schwartz also addressed criticism surrounding Sun’s decision not to release Java as open-source software. The refusal to go with a proprietary scheme is to prevent Java from forking, he noted.
License Department
Schwartz’s comments illustrate the increasing complexity of licensing, especially in the open-source realm, said Yankee Group analyst Dana Gardner.
“Not long ago, there were only a couple of open-source licenses,” he said. “Now, you’ve got many, and there are many more being created.”
The result is that some companies will develop their own, as Sun has done, or tweak existing licenses to suit their needs. Gardner praised Sun’s willingness to address the issue directly. But even with this kind of clarity, companies should be ready for more confusion, rather than less.
“We’re beginning to enter a period of intense license discussions,” said Gardner.
