All software ain't just software!

The reason is twofold. Popular open-source projects develop source code, features, modifications, improvements and releases at a prodigious rate. The level of productivity in an open-source project with a critical mass of developers is exceptional. Second, once code has been BSD'ed or GPL'ed, and has a vibrant open-source developer and user community behind it, it is commoditised. There is no going back.

It becomes irrelevant to a company if they can lock that software away in binary code and abuse the license. One way to compete in a commodity market is through volume by taking smaller and smaller margins. Open-source projects are available for free from the project's own website, so hoping to make a living from razor thin margins in a volume business is impossible. The other way to survive in a commodity market is through innovation. Again this is impossible for a company, as open-source projects out-innovate, out-collaborate and are more productive for far less cost than a business can achieve.

Recently Eric Raymond argued that the GPL was not needed anymore, stating, "We don't need the GPL anymore. It's based on the belief that open-source software is weak and needs to be protected." In contrast Matt Asay argued that the GPL was the superior license, writing, "The GPL is one of the most exciting, innovative capitalist tools ever created. The GPL breaks down walls between vendors and customers while enabling strong competitive differentiation."

I don't think the license wars matter. I have used all manner of open-source licenses in systems and have contributed to open-source projects. The fact of the matter is, once software gets open-sourced it has become a commodity. The genie is out of the bottle. Whether it is licensed under the BSD, GPL, LGPL, APL or MPL is irrelevant. Once software is commoditised, the most competitive organisational form in that market is an open-source developer and user community. It is an extremely rare business that can beat zero dollars, and the productivity rates of a distributed software developer system.