>Linux Lingam wrote:
>
>dear all,
>
>i understand that an author owns the copyright to a software. under
>this 'ownership' the author may then decide to GPL the software,
>allowing others more flexible access to the software, under the
>restrictions imposed by the GPL. This also allows contributors to add
>their own code or further develop the software.
>Yet, can the original author choose to un-gpl a software? i have seen
>some extremely rare instances over the past few years of software that
>were released under the GPL, and then retracted into a proprietory
>license.
>
That got me thinking.. the GPL says that GPL'd software can be distributed 
under the GNU GPL version 2 OR "at your option, any later version"! So does 
that mean that FSF can someday release a GPL version 3 with properietary 
clauses and effectively un-GPL in spirit, ALL the free software in the world? 
They can even grant FSF all ownership rights to all GPL'd software and turn 
into the next MS! Scary!

- AJ


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