PCWorld.com – Torvalds Says No to Digital Rights Management License — At least someone is trying to keep things simple.
The digital rights management provisions proposed for the new version of the GNU General Public License (GPL v3) used by many open-source projects have earned a thumbs-down from Linux kernel developer Linus Torvalds. In a posting to the Linux kernel mailing list this week, Torvalds said that he did not expect the kernel–a key component of the Linux operating system–to adopt the new license.
The GPL is used by a large number of open-source projects, including the Samba file and print software and the MySQL database. The new draft version of the license–its first revision in 15 years–has been promoted as a way to better protect users and developers from some of the dangers posed by software patents and digital rights management systems. And while the license received generally favorable reviews following its unveiling last week, Torvalds’s public criticism is a blow to its author, the Free Software Foundation.
The GPL v3’s provision prevents GPL-licensed software from being used in DRM copy-protection software, called “digital restrictions management” software by the FSF.
related link:
How Torvalds pronounces the word “Linux.”
So… to distil the article:
New GPL licence bans DRM. Old one doesn’t.
New licence isn’t even finished yet. New one is a little out of date.
Linux’s kernal is going to be released soon. Linus doesn’t want to put an unfinished licence to his software.
Wow… the lack of news here is impressive. Come on John – the headline doesn’t even make any sense!
GPLv3 contains such bad ideas (yes I have read the draft.) It seems to me the free/open source software crowds have for far too long endured Richard Stallman’s peculiarities based soley on his historic contributions. It is time to move along without him, and without the FSF if that’s what it takes.