> And the GPLv3 was simply far too scary for companies.
I've not got anything out there covered by GPLv3, or any GPL these days, but I remember the same arguments against GPLv3 being given for the older versions too.
Much like the answer to "if it doesn't say how much it is, it'll be too much and I move on" is "that is probably the intention, if you move on for that reason then you probably aren't the target audience" - if you are scared of GPLv3 then you probably aren't the target audience of the people using it.
(of course if you are the target audience, and they state as much, there is obviously a disconnect somewhere, in both cases)
I don't agree that the changes in GPL (AGPL, GPLv3) are the reason for the drop in use of that family of licences, rather that the rise in less restrictive open source options would have happened just as much had GPLv3 never been a thing. That is a mix of many people becoming less ideological in their licence choice overall as the F/OSS developer base increased, and an increase in commercial interest in F/OSS software that has lead to investment (dev & other time & resource, not just money) which has of course gone to less restrictive projects where such exist for obvious alignment-of-interests reasons.
I've not got anything out there covered by GPLv3, or any GPL these days, but I remember the same arguments against GPLv3 being given for the older versions too.
Much like the answer to "if it doesn't say how much it is, it'll be too much and I move on" is "that is probably the intention, if you move on for that reason then you probably aren't the target audience" - if you are scared of GPLv3 then you probably aren't the target audience of the people using it.
(of course if you are the target audience, and they state as much, there is obviously a disconnect somewhere, in both cases)
I don't agree that the changes in GPL (AGPL, GPLv3) are the reason for the drop in use of that family of licences, rather that the rise in less restrictive open source options would have happened just as much had GPLv3 never been a thing. That is a mix of many people becoming less ideological in their licence choice overall as the F/OSS developer base increased, and an increase in commercial interest in F/OSS software that has lead to investment (dev & other time & resource, not just money) which has of course gone to less restrictive projects where such exist for obvious alignment-of-interests reasons.