FOSSwire

The Free Software Foundation has released the third version of the GNU General Public License which addresses many new patent concerns (focused around recent Microsoft deals), 'Tivoisation' and other issues too. The Lesser GNU General Public License (LGPL) has also been updated to version 3.

“Since we founded the free software movement, over 23 years ago, the free software community has developed thousands of useful programs that respect the user's freedom. The programs are in the GNU/Linux operating system, as well as personal computers, telephones, Internet servers, and more. Most of these programs use the GNU GPL to guarantee every user the freedom to run, study, adapt, improve, and redistribute the program,” said Richard Stallman, founder and president of the FSF.

Version 3 of the GNU GPL strengthens this guarantee, by ensuring that users can modify the free software on their personal and household devices, and granting patent licenses to every user. It also extends compatibility with other free software licenses and increases international uniformity.

The GPL is one of the most important software licences in the whole technology industry and this new release is quite a momentous event for not only the free software industry, but for tech as a whole.

Actually, I find it quite interesting that the FSF chose to release it when they did, on the same day as the release of the iPhone, which has inevitably meant that the news of the GPLv3's release has been overshadowed somewhat by Apple's new device.

I think now it is going to be interesting to see what the developers of the Linux kernel think of the new licence and the overall choice they make, as well as watching to see other projects who may or may not migrate to the GPLv3.

For more information about GPLv3, head over to the FSF's official GPLv3 site here.

Eben Moglen, the Free Software Foundation's top lawyer and the guy who oversees the writing of the legal code of the GNU General Public Licence and other GNU licences, has announced on his blog that he is leaving the FSF:

The release of Discussion Draft 3 has been greeted as warmly as I dared hope: all the recorded outrage has been emitted by Microsoft or its surrogates, which is at it should be. We had prepared Discussion Draft 3, after all, with the assumption that it was going to be the Last Call Draft, and I thought, and continue to think, that it would serve beautifully as the final GPLv3. I agree with RMS that it was very important to add another cycle of public discussion, and I’m sure the Free Software Foundation will be making some changes based on that discussion, as it has in response to comments all along. But I think the big issues have been correctly addressed, and that the detail work-which as lawyers we have to take more seriously than everyone else–is ready for the pressure of reality.

So it’s time I began to think about life after GPLv3.

[...]

In particular, it’s time for me to leave the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation, where I’ve been since 2000. FSF is in great shape under the continued leadership of Richard Stallman and his executive director, Peter Brown. Completing GPLv3 successfully underlines the credibility with which FSF combines the most uncompromising principle with the depth of knowledge and experience needed to build broad coalitions in our community. Leaving is always hard, but there couldn’t be a more appropriate or less disruptive time.

Mr Moglen is a highly respected and very influentual person in the free software community and this is quite big news.