GNU General Public License

The GNU General Public License is, in the words of co-founder Eben Moglen, "the most important social document of our time", but in the words of almost everyone else, a necessary evil. Almost everyone hates the GPL with a passion, including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat and Tux, because it stops them from making serious money out of FLOSS.
==Before the GPL==
Before RMS created the GPL, free software hackers had four options:
*Release their code into the public domain
*Release their code under the MIT license
*Release their code under the BSD license
*Release their code to Satan
===BSD License===
The BSD License was first created with the BSD operating system, commonly available in Free, Open and Net varieties. The text of the license is below.
 woh...man, that is some gooood shit...
 whadda, whadda we ment 2 be doing? 
 go, do wat ye want with this software
 just credit the great pot at berkley man!
===MIT License===
The MIT License was similar, but more free than the BSD license.
 woh...man, that is some gooood shit...
 whadda, whadda we ment 2 be doing? 
 go, do wat ye want with this software
 just don't tell anyone the great pot at mit man - we want to keep it for ourselves!
==GPL v3==
Almost everyone hates the third version of the GPL, or, as it is commonly known: "GPLv3". Most objections are due to viral nature of the deal with Satan which takes effect upon reading it. It is felt to be unfair that just by reading it -- not just abiding by it, as required by the GPL v2 -- one has given up one's soul to Satan. The same logic has been applied to shrink wrap licensing with great success, and Satan was committed to Hell, moving with the times.
===People who love GPLv3===
*RMS
*Pacman
*Eben Moglen
*Possibly Mark Shuttleworth
*Unicron
*Some moron on Uncyclopedia that nobody cares about
===People who hate GPLv3===
===The GPLv3===
 0. Definitions.
 
 “This License” refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
 
 “Copyright” also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as semiconductor masks.
 
 “The Program” refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License. Each licensee is addressed as
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 A “covered work” means either the unmodified Program or a work based on the Program.
 
 To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without permission, would make you directly or
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 The Corresponding Source for a work in source code form is that same work.
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 All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of copyright on the Program, and are 
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 “Additional permissions” are terms that supplement the terms of this License by making exceptions from one or 
 more of its conditions. Additional permissions that are applicable to the entire Program shall be treated as 
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 unless you entered into that arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to 28 March 2007.
 
 Nothing in this License shall be construed as excluding or limiting any implied license or other defenses to infringement 
 that may otherwise be available to you under applicable patent law.
 12. No Surrender of Others' Freedom.
 
 If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this 
 License, they excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot convey a covered work so as to satisfy 
 simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you must 
 void any affected provisions under this license.
 
 13. Use with Anime.
 
 Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have permission to view or watch anime using software covered 
 by this license.
==See also== 
*Linus Torvalds
*Tux
*GNU the Gnu
*Bill Gates
*Goatse
*Steve 'You know what I'm gonna say here' Ballmer
*Steve Jobs
*Stevie
*Stevie Wonder
*Tim O'Reilly
*Your Mom
*Eminem
*Oscar Wilde
ru:GPL