07.16.07
GPLv3 Doubts are Fear of Free Software Adoption, Not Ethics and Pragmatism
Love it or hate it, GPLv3 adoption grows quickly.
One week after Palamida reported a rather sluggish start to GPLv3 adoption, we’re up 41% and growing quickly. This could represent 10% of all active open source projets.
The statements above comes from someone whom I consider to be a victim of FUD and disinformation, courtesy of Microsoft lobbyists.
Over at ITWire, fear of GPLv3 adoption, not GPLv3 itself is blamed for all the skpeticism.
I’ve even seen a few “surveys” - you know the kind which the author refers to as “a quick survey.” It reminds me of a man I worked with in the Middle East; whenever he wanted to bolster his reports with a bit of vox pop, he would resort to citing a “quick survey among taxi-drivers in …..”
Of course, he was always the person who had done the survey though he never mentioned it.
There’s one thing driving this kind of talk.
Fear.
You may still recall Microsoft’s quietly-sponsored research on GPLv3 adoption or even the Yankee Group’s ’studies’. Many surveys that involve the GPL were actually conducted by (or for) a company that says it is no party to the GPL. That ought to make us pause and think.
Joyent has just released its Connector and Slingshot source code and chose the GPL licence. Programmers can apparently think for themselves.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.