[logbiscuitswave]

I’ve worked several jobs in the past where using reciprocal OSS (such as GPL) was expressly forbidden. This would leave us in the position of reinventing the wheel, buying something, or using something (possibly inferior) that’s more permissive.

(I guess in many ways this is a data point to support the “OSS work becomes just a source of free labor for large tech companies” thesis up thread.)

[parafactual]

It might be the only pragmatic choice, so I'm not condemning developers or anything, but that would make me a bit uncomfortable with the company itself.

[sigjuice]

So I take it Linux was not used at all in any shape or form?

[Stratoscope]

I suspect that when GP said "using", they meant "incorporating it into your own code".

No one at any company I've heard of or been involved with cares if you simply use, i.e. run, Linux or other GPL software. That doesn't affect the licensing of your own software.

What they do care about is if you take the GPL software and incorporate it into your own product.

[sigjuice]

I guess you are right. The OP said "buying" and I suppose in the trajectory my career has taken me the concept of buying code is foreign to me.