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January 21, 2011, 01:43:56 AM |
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If anything, GPL slows adoption compared to less restrictive licenses, such as MIT, BSD, or no license/copyright (Public Domain). People naturally try to make the best (in their own eyes) use of their resources, generally trying to increase their wealth (subjective). A business that wants to release their own client loses much of their competitive edge if they have to release the source code (and therefore their improvements) to their competitors. So why would they put the resources into something that won't give them a competitive edge when they have other, more profitable things they can do with their resources? However, an MIT license allows them to make changes and not release the source to their competitors, which may actually give them an edge over their competition, potentially leading to higher profits. If you don't have businesses promoting Bitcoin with their software releases, Bitcoin-related services, marketing budgets, etc., what chance does Bitcoin have to become mainstream? What use is Bitcoin to the mainstream if mainstream businesses don't use it? Most real life transactions are either consumers to business, or business to business. Why make Bitcoin less likely to become mainstream by using the GPL license?
My Bitcoin implementation will certainly not be GPL, and will be released in the Public Domain (assuming I don't unwittingly run into problems with any potential future co-developers demanding a license, asserting fallacious claims of control over the real property of myself and others), as I don't believe in initiating (or threatening the initiation of) violence to increase wealth (everything every human does is in attempt to increase their personal wealth in their own eyes), which means I don't believe in government or copyright, as the foundation of government is based on the (threat of) initiation of violence, and all of your open-source licenses are based on copyright laws that require the government. Until someone accomplishes the impossible and provides a proof that people should initiate violence to get what they want, any beliefs in support of government, copyright, and licenses based on copyright are unfounded, and are nothing more than religion and an attempt to force their religion onto others.
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