I write software for a living. Not something I ever expected to do for a career, but it happened and I’m fairly good at it.
I also write software as a hobby. Different languages and platforms – working with a diverse set of tools makes me a better developer. I also give away most of the software I write in my free time.
Why?
Releasing software helps me find bugs, contribute to a growing community of developers, and raise my own name recognition in the market. Increased name recognition means more consulting contracts. It’s a win-win.
When I do give my software away, I try to pick the most permissive terms possible under which it’s distributed. So long as my name and copyright stays on the code, I don’t care what you do with it.
A great deal of the code I write in my free time is for WordPress. WordPress is distributed under the terms of the GPL (version 2, specifically), so my code has to licensed under GPL-compatible terms.
And that is a can of worms that irritates me.
In my opinion, the GPL is the enemy of software freedom. [Read more...]
