[conspire] Oracle may buy Sleepycat and JBoss. Highlights importance of licensing.

[Adrien Lamothe]

According to eWeek, Oracle is working to but both Sleepycat software
and JBoss. The URL:

http://blog.eweek.com/blogs/eweek/archive/2006/02/10/5864.aspx?kc=ewnws021306dtx1k0000599

This shows the importance of GPL. The kind of funny stuff that has been
going on (Oracle buying InnoDB) can't happen as easily with GPL software,
although a deep-pocketed company can certainly buy all the key
DEVELOPERS of a GPL'ed project (this has happened.) At least with
GPL'ed software, other people can come along and fill the void, or an
end-user can hire someone to fix bugs or add features.

There is a defensive strategy for technology users, that I like to call the
"good enough" principle:  find a software stack that meets your needs,
is reliable and that you have the legal right to use, even though it may not
have all the latest "bells and whistles", keep a snapshot/image of this
"good enough" system, confine all software development to the "good
enough" system until such time that you can migrate to a newer 
"good enough" system. If you eventually have to migrate to the latest
wiz-bang hardware, you may have to re-compile the operating system
(GPL'ed code) and all the software (also GPL'ed.) This effectively keeps
you immune to the games proprietary software vendors play. It also 
highlights the importance of the GPL'ed GNU tools. This strategy is
predicated on both Linux and GNU tools being able to port to the 
new hardware.

Cheers,

Adrien



		
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