I used to not have a problem when I wanted to release software. I’d just release it under the GPL (what we’d now call the GPLv2), and be pretty happy with that decision.<\/p>\n
Now there’s GPLv3, and I’m really uncertain whether I like it at all. I understand that Tivoization is a serious problem, but I don’t quite understand the special non-consumer exemption for the anti-Tivoization clause. There are some other new and weird clauses the FSF has added, dealing with patents, and the WIPO Copyright treaty of 1996, and so on.<\/p>\n
The GPL used to be pretty simple and elegant. Now? I recognize that the FSF is trying to make the best of a pretty bad situation. But their license has become something bizarre and awkward.<\/p>\n
Theoretically, I could still use the old version. But that feels kind of odd, too, now that version 3 is out.<\/p>\n
So now I have to look at things like the CPL, the Apache License, and so on. I’m already fairly sure I don’t want to use the MIT or modified BSD licenses; one of the things I liked about the GPL is that it keeps other people from dragging my open-source work into a proprietary package. I’m releasing it as open source for a reason, after all.<\/p>\n