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by spsesk117 632 days ago
I'd be interested in hearing an expanded take on GPLs presence in this list.

The first and third elements are intuitive and confirm my own biases/believes, but the freedom/GPL entry confuses me, as I do see GPL fulfilling that purpose (arguably in a highly opinionated, perhaps sub-optimal way).

If anyone could share their perspective here I'd appreciate it.
2 comments
unethical_ban 632 days ago
The usual "GPL is anti-freedom" argument is that it restricts what someone is allowed to do with the source code, meaning it is less free than MIT or BSD style licenses.

I don't agree with that, but that is what the person is saying.

What's absurd, in my opinion, is lumping GPL advocacy in with two other tropes which are intended to restrict the sharing of information and knowledge, where GPL promotes it.

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jwitthuhn 632 days ago
I see that sentiment largely coming from developers who, I think, misunderstand the freedom that the GPL is protecting.

The GPL focuses on the user's freedom to modify any software they are using to better suit their own needs, and it does a great job of it.

The people saying that it is less free than bsd/mit/apache are looking at it from a developer's perspective. The GPL does deliberately limit a developer's freedom to include GPL code in a proprietary product, because that would restrict the user's freedom to modify the code.

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