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The GPL v3 Watch List is intended to give you a snapshot of the GPLv3/LGPLv3 adoption for March 22nd through March 28th, 2008.
Prepare for April Fools
After reaching our recent milestone of 2k projects, there has been a slow down this week. 34 new GPL v3 projects have been added to our database since March 21st bringing our count to 2042 GPL v3 projects. Our LGPL v3 count is also a bit stagnant, remaining at 179 LGPL v3 projects, and our GPL v2 or later count is at 6446 GPL v2 or later projects. This single week is not a significant sign of an overall slowdown, and we expect that later weeks will have above average numbers to balance out this weeks numbers.
New project conversions this week include:
- Notepad .NET: Notepad .NET is a simple text-editor based on office 2007-like GUI and a tab based editor.
- cyberBB: cyberBB ist eine OpenSource Foren-Software. Es beinhaltet (noch nicht) alle Funktionen, die Sie von einem guten Forum erwarten.
- transIPAtion: transIPAtion is a Software to support phonetic transcription. It delivers a graphical Representation of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Each sound with it's Symbol is representet as a Button.
Story of the week
Subscribe to Open Source
In a recent article from eweek, there is a move in open source licensing from perpetual licenses to subscription licenses, for those that are commercial. In the next five years subscription licenses will surpass perpetual licenses by a ratio of 80:20, according to their survey. This trend could be the result of the additional service required for many open source projects. This strategy could also be a result of making open source projects easier to commercialize. If the code is sold, there could be conflicts with the licenses of the sub-projects. However, it may be much easier to offer the code for free and have consumers purchase a subscription to services. This was the code is not the product, but instead the additional services required to keep the program stable and up-to-date are the product, which would not conflict with the open-source licenses of the sub-projects.
This move to subscription licensing could have ramifications in terms of the use of the Affero GPL v3. The AGPL v3 gives developers a way to share the modifications to their code, which is used over a network in the SaaS model. If a developer chooses to license their product in this way, then users of that product will have the source code to all of the developer's additions and modifications to the Affero-licensed product. If more an more developers start using the SaaS model as opposed to a download of code that is then executed on a user's machine, then the use of Affero or a similar license would be necessary to preserve the "free software" principles embodied in the GPLv3 since the GPL has no requirement to make source code available under a "network usage" arrangement. If enough developers want to fully embrace "free software" principles using the SaaS model then adoption of the AGPL for such projects will increase. Given that we will see an increase in the number of projects that are moving to the SaaS model it seems reasonable to expect the adoption rate of the AGPL will increase.
References:
http://www.midmarket.eweek.com/c/a/News/Report-Subscriptions-to-Surge-for-OpenSource-Licensing/
http://acquia.com/files/osbc2008nbvpsurvey.pdf
Notable Mention
Palamida actively takes submissions from visitors on updates on new GPL v3/LGPL 3 projects. We are amazed at the number of submissions we have gotten to date, but even more so, we are incredibly grateful to the almost 100 core contributors who have devoted their time and resources at helping us provide up-to-date information.
The GPL v3 Watch List is intended to give you a snapshot of the GPLv3/LGPLv3 adoption for March 14th through March 21st, 2008.
GPL v3 Has Reached 2000 Projects!!!
Our database now contains over 2000 projects that are using the GPL v3. This is a large milestone for the license, and seems to still be the beginning of wider adoption. Nine months have passed since the release of the controversial license and it has already gained 2k projects. At this rate the GPL v3 is being adopted by 1000 projects every 4-5 months, and if the trend continues, the license will be used by 5000 projects by the end of the year. 5k will be a very substantial amount of projects under the GPL v3, which may influence larger projects to move over the the GPL v3 as well. Then again, the license can begin to cap out, but as of today we have yet to see a decrease in adoption rates.
Affero General Public License v3
In addition to the GPL v3 and the LGPL v3, the AGPL v3 is slowly making its small niche in the community. It has recently been added to the OSI approved list, though it was released in November, 2007. With its recent addition to the OSI approved list, a few projects have adopted the license, finding that the extra provisions benefit them more than the standard GPL v3 license. The main clause of attention in the AGPL v3 is that it closes the ASP Loophole that some found to be a flaw in the GPL v3. The ASP Loophole allowed software as a service to retain its changes to the open source code, not releasing it back to the community. Soon we will be adding the AGPL v3 to our database as it is another branch of the GPL v3.
Current AGPL v3 projects include
3rd-space
AJAX Chat
allocPSA
Baifox
CiviCRM
eastwood
eyeOS
Eyes Of Lynx
Funambol
hyperdump
Infonomix
LogiLogi.org Gallery Generator
MyTab
OgOg
OSN
P4A
Pbooks
plutext-server
Poliglota
ProcessMaker OSS
sovix
stet
Tine 2.0
Tournament Pool and Bracket Tracker
Veasy WaveMaker
Visual Ajax Studio
Wikidot
License Link Update
We are also happy to see that many license links have been fixed, directing to the correct version of the GPL. When the license was first released, the FSF put the GPL v3 under the general GPL URL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html), which was previously the GPL v2 URL. This caused misrepresentation for the projects who were still under the GPL v2, but had used the general GPL URL. Those projects have since changed those links to direct to the GPL v2 URL, which is now http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html.
Notable Mention
Palamida actively takes submissions from visitors on updates on new GPL v3/LGPL 3 projects. We are amazed at the number of submissions we have gotten to date, but even more so, we are incredibly grateful to the almost 100 core contributors who have devoted their time and resources at helping us provide up-to-date information.
The GPL v3 Watch List is intended to give you a snapshot of the GPLv3/LGPLv3 adoption for March 8th through March 14th, 2008.
March 14th - Happy St. Patrick's Day
Here's to a Happy St. Patty's Day, the one day we wish "free" meant "free as in beer". If the open source movement was really about free beer, we would have 59 extra pints, aka 59 new GPL v3 projects this week. That brings our database to 1952 GPL v3 projects, 48 projects shy of the next milestone of 2000 GPL v3 projects. At the rate current adoption, we will hit 2000 projects by next week. If this rate keeps up, the GPL v3 may have 5000 projects under its belt by the end of the year. The LGPL v3 count is currently at 177 LGPL v3 projects and the GPL v2 or Later number is at 6439 projects.
New project conversions this week include:
- Grammar Browser: Provides a GUI interface to grammatical structure and relations (as parsed by the Stanford Parser) of any text.
- PANDA Web Administrator: Web-based administration tool for domains, emails and newsletters based oh PHP + PostgreSQL + postfix
- zntpdate: zntpdate is a tool that allowes you to modify date/time. Like ntpdate, it is a NTP client but with adding option to let's you adjust time received from your favorite NTP server before set the time to your computer.
Story of the week
Linux Foundation would like to collaborate with Microsoft
The Linux Foundation is the organization which sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and also, as stated on the "About" page of its web site, "promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms."
Jim Zemlin, the Executive Director of the Linux Foundation, recently gave an interview to the Australian "PC World" site and discussed many aspects of the state of the Linux operating system and its future. The headline-grabbing statement of the interview was that the Linux Foundation would "love to" collaborate with Microsoft to make Linux more effectively interoperate with Microsoft products, but the other topics discussed were just as interesting, and more immediately relevant to the open source/free software industry in general.
Regarding licensing, he said it is unlikely at this point that the Linux kernel will adopt the GPLv3, but there may still be a possibility at some point in the future. He also mentioned that desktop adoption of Linux-based operating systems is growing with manufacturers like Asus, Lenovo and Dell offering Linux pre-installed on new computers.
He discussed the growth of Linux-based systems on mobile devices, from the Motorola Razr devices to Google's new Android platform. Additionally he mentioned there is an organization of mobile handset manufacturers which is creating a a mobile Linux reference platform for their devices.
The most interesting point he brought up about the open source/free software industry was probably the discussion of how to monetize it. This was one issue that came up in discussions surrounding Sun's recent purchase of MySQL, a company based on open source software development, and how it could possibly be worth $1 billion. Jim goes on to say that because the technology in the open source industry is all out in the open, companies make money in that industry by "innovating at a higher level." For example, companies work to provide good solutions for the management, support and service of open source products.
So a company like MySQL which developed the most popular open source database product on the market, truly creates value by effectively and consistently managing and supporting its product for its users. This value will only improve and increase when one considers the worldwide distribution and support infrastructure that Sun brings to bear.
With the kind of adoption that we are seeing with Linux-based operating systems in devices and the growing realization that open collaboration is the future of software development, it is more important than ever that developers and the companies that employ them be aware of the implications of the use of open source and free software.
-Kevin Howard
References:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/13/1159236&from=rss
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1290914415;pp;1
http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Main_Page
Notable Mention
Palamida actively takes submissions from visitors on updates on new GPL v3/LGPL 3 projects. We are amazed at the number of submissions we have gotten to date, but even more so, we are incredibly grateful to the almost 100 core contributors who have devoted their time and resources at helping us provide up-to-date information.
The GPL v3 Watch List is intended to give you a snapshot of the GPLv3/LGPLv3 adoption for March 1st through March 7th, 2008.
March 7th - Birth of the Roman Republic
Our numbers continue to grow as we approach 2000 GPL v3 projects. Last week we broke the milestone of 2000 GPL v3 and LGPL v3 projects combined, so now we are awaiting solely GPL v3 projects to surpass 2000. Currently, our count of GPL v3 projects is at 1893 GPL v3 projects, up 52 new GPL v3 projects since last week. Our LGPL v3 count remains at 176 LGPL v3 projects. We have already seen that the GPL v3 has made its mark on project licenses, but we are now curious to see if it will continue to grow. If adoption continues at this rate, it make start a snowball effect since it will become more convenient to license under GPL v3 for compatibility.
New project conversions this week include:
- UNIX terminal emulator for GP2X: termula2x is a UNIX terminal emulator for GP2X, including vi text editor. It supports background images.
- The LPP Project: A multiplayer only FPS involving veichle driving in a futuristic populated living city with a intuitive and user friendly map editor.
- Oil Worker: Oil Worker is an addictive and challenging arcade puzzle game developed in PyGame. You've been contracted by an oil company and your goal is to build a long pipe to carry the oil from the oil well to the refinery
Story of the week
Microsoft Research License Agreement and What it Really Means
This week Microsoft made a Research Development Kit (RDK) for its Singularity OS available to the public. The RDK includes source code, tools and other documentation about the project, all released under the terms of the "Microsoft Research License Agreement" (MSR-LA) and is for "Non-Commercial Academic Use Only."
This is certainly a positive step toward openness from a company whose bread and butter is revenue from closed-source software applications, but is the MSR-LA really an open source license? The license does apply to source code that is available for download, but what can be done with that code once you have it? Consider some of the terms:
1) "You may not use or distribute this Software or any derivative works in any form for commercial purposes."
This is "free as in beer," not as in free speech.
2) "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, you may only use the tools included in the Software to build the Singularity system, or build applications that will run on Singularity."
This is fairly restrictive and makes it impossible to use any of the available tools, no matter how innovative, for anything but this project.
3) "If you distribute the Software or any derivative works of the Software, you will distribute them under the same terms and conditions as in this license, and you will not grant other rights to the Software or derivative works that are different from those provided by this MSR-LA."
Requiring the same license terms upon distribution is not so unusual, but the inability to grant anything other than the terms of the MSR-LA, even additional terms like those suggested in the GPL, like restricting the use of certain trademarks or offering a warranty on code you create, gives developers no flexibility.
4) Your rights granted by the MSR-LA give you no ability to "subject the Software or derivative works thereof in whole or in part to the terms of any license that requires as a condition of use, modification and/or distribution of software subject to such license that the software or other software combined and/or distributed with such software be (A) disclosed or distributed in source code form; (B) licensed for the purpose of making derivative works; or (C) redistributable at no charge."
This is quite clearly aimed at free software licenses like the GPL and other free and open source licenses that require the distribution of source code and encourage the creation of derivative works. MSR-LA licensed code will not play nicely with most free and/or open source licensed code. The "no charge" provision here is curious given the non-commercial nature of the MSR-LA, but it may be included so that more free and/or open source licenses are not compatible.
5) "...Microsoft is granted back, a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, and sub-licensable license to, for any purpose, reproduce, publicly perform or display, install, use, modify, distribute, make and have made, sell and transfer modifications to and/or derivative works of the Software source code or data that you provide to Microsoft through the CodePlex tool or otherwise make directly available to Microsoft."
So if you contribute something creative back to Microsoft they receive an irrevocable and sub-licensable license to your code for any purpose. At least it's non-exclusive, but where else would you be able to use it?
6) "...if you sue anyone over patents that you think may apply to or read on the Software or anyone's use of the Software, this MSR-LA (and your license and rights obtained herein) terminate automatically."
This interestingly parallels with other licenses such as the GPL, which forbids one from suing based on a claim of patent infringement.
This license is nothing if not accurately named. It is certainly intended to keep all creative work produced under it within the scope of the Singularity research project and also within Microsoft itself. The restriction on the code being "subjected" to the various terms of other licenses effectively isolates the code from being used with seemingly anything outside of this particular project. If the goal is to experiment and do research to develop new techniques and tools, the possibilities here seem unusually limited.
References:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/05/1528227&from=rss
http://www.codeplex.com/singularity
http://research.microsoft.com/os/singularity/
http://www.codeplex.com/singularity/license
-Kevin Howard
Notable Mention
Palamida actively takes submissions from visitors on updates on new GPL v3/LGPL 3 projects. We are amazed at the number of submissions we have gotten to date, but even more so, we are incredibly grateful to the almost 100 core contributors who have devoted their time and resources at helping us provide up-to-date information.
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