[prmoustache]

It is probably for another product but there is at least one Sony email address, and a number email addresses from different corporate entities, on the FreeBSD contributors list. All 3 majors BSD OSes also list donators (can be financially or hardware).

So saying corps that use BSD code never give anything back because of license is not true. And an awful lot don't do any more or even hide their use of gpl licensed code anyway.

[nine_k]

When, say, IBM contributed a lot of stuff into the Linux kernel in early 2000s, that stuff became immediately available to anyone. Whatever cool stuff Nintendo or Sony may introduce in their versions of BSD kernels, we don't even know, let alone seeing them contribute it back.

GPL works similarly to a patent pool: every participant sees that openly contributing to the pool is more profitable than being a renegade, as long as everyone else plays by the rules, too. MIT/BSD, while as open as possible, can easily promote a trade-secret type of environment, where any enhancements are never heard of, except under an NDA, and perish if their creators go under or lose interest.