Open Source Hybrids and the Final GPLv3
John P. Beardwood, Andrew C. Alleyne · Computer Law Review International · 2008
This paper is a followup to Price of Binary Freedom: The Challenge of Open Hybrid Software (Beardwood/Alleyne, CRi 2006, 97), which examined the challenges of combining OSS with proprietary software to create hybrid software, specifically in the context of the first draft of Version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3). Since the article's publication in 2006, there have been four drafts of the new GPLv3 which have culminated in the release of the official GPLv3 on June 29, 2007 (some 16 years following the creation of the GPLv2). Extensive commentary was made on the intervening GPLv3 drafts, and the final official version which has evolved reflects a balance of the philosophies underpinning the GPL. This paper reviews this evolution and re-examines the challenges of Hybrid OSS in light of this final draft of GPLv3.