08.13.07
Huge Transition to GPLv3
Palamida has been keeping track of the adoption of GPLv3. According to the latest findings, over 50 percent of those active projects which are identified as GPL licensed will have upgraded to the GPLv3. The big change occurred in the past month alone. Congratulation! Microsoft’s poisoning attempts were not successful.
From Palamida:
1. Or later – 4708 of 9082 projected – 52%
2. LGPLv3 – 30 of 723 projected – 4%
3. GPLv3 – 5100 of 13078 projected – 39%
4. GPL, not converted – 5086 projected (GPL projects times (100% - 72% convert rate))
5. Non GPL license – 3722 projected (Active projects – (Active GPL projects + not converted))All this in one month.
So, what is the summary?
Adoption and projects released under GPLv3 are as expected. The part that is often overlooked is the long standing impact of the “or later” clause, initially put into effect more than a decade ago as part of the language surrounding the GPLv2 License, or later, at the time and now, common among GPL licensed projects. This clause in effect guaranteed a wide spread “potential” of adoption of the license the day it was released.




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.