The GPL is an artefact born of this battle. It is a weapon for the academic or hacker community to use against proprietary developers.
Richard Stallman on why you shouldn't use LGPL
Proprietary software developers have the advantage of money; free software developers need to make advantages for each other. Using the ordinary GPL for a library gives free software developers an advantage over proprietary developers: a library that they can use, while proprietary developers cannot use it.The GPL smells of struggle and dispute. It is a finger raised to 'proprietary' where the second 'p' sends out a little spray of spit. I think I understand the dangers that the GPL wants to avoid, and I agree that there are real dangers. Is the GPL the best solution?
I (the man Matthew) don't like the way it feels to set up barricades. The thing that makes me happy, is to give away my stuff. If I give you something, and say 'promise never to give this to a bad person' - I feel bad - because it's not really giving it away, but something else.
If I try to generalize, I feel instinctively that the world will change faster under the influence of true generosity. I realize that not everyone thinks that is true or even meaningful. Still, what can we do, but say it out loud?
