[wplug] VMWare's GPL violation

[John Lewis]

That is a good idea.

It may also be a good idea for Vance to re-present the talk from the
perspective of this and similar events. April is still open to to be
contested over if you are interested Vance.

On 03/08/2015 04:05 PM, Justin Smith wrote:
> A Linux kernel developer named Christoph Hellwig has filed a lawsuit 
> against VMWare, a well-known vendor of virtualization software, for violating 
> the terms of the GPL.
>
> Vance gave an excellent talk about software licenses a while ago. In case 
> you weren't there, or you don't remember the specifics of the GPL, it 
> states, in effect, that if you incorporate GPL-licensed code into a product 
> you make, that "derivative work" must also be released under the GPL.
>
> VMWare took Christoph's code from the Linux kernel, incorporated it into 
> ESXi, its proprietary hypervisor, and has refused to release the source 
> code. It has also failed to release[1] the source code for its custom 
> version of BusyBox, a stripped-down set of command-line tools that is 
> bundled with ESXi.
>
> The Software Freedom Conservancy is raising money[2] to help fund 
> Christoph's lawsuit. An anonymous donor is currently matching 
> contributions. If you're able to contribute to this cause in any amount - 
> even as little as $20 - it would help show proprietary software companies 
> that they are *not* exempt from the open source community's rules.
>
>
> *Justin Smith*
> GNU/Linux System Administrator
>
> /"Unix is user-friendly; it's just very selective about who its friends are."/
>
> --------
> [1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/2893852/vmware-sued-for-alleged-gpl-license-infractions.html
> [2] http://sfconservancy.org/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-appeal.html
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