Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit
MaxBarraclough | on: AlpineBSD
> Linux success has nothing to do with GPL

Linus doesn't agree. He once said in an interview that making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did, [0] and has said that I love GPLv2. I really think the license has been one of the defining factors in the success of Linux because it enforced that you have to give back. [1]

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20070826212454/http:/www.tlug.jp...

[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvaldss-love-hate-rela...

spauldo | parent
Both can be true, you know.
MaxBarraclough | root | parent
They cannot. Linux success has nothing to do with GPL is in direct contradiction with I really think the license has been one of the defining factors in the success of Linux.
spauldo | root | parent
Except you left out an important bit of the OP's statement, where he/she is talking about Linux's success over BSD specifically.

When Linus was talking about the GPL being part of Linux's success, he was talking about Linux's success in general. And yeah, the GPL most likely is a big part of Linux's success.

However, if 386BSD had been freely available in '91, Linux would likely never have had the opportunity to build the developer base needed to take it from a student's neat project to a viable operating system.