[Xapian-discuss] GPL as the main reason why Xapian might not get the widespread success it deserves?

[Michael Hasselmann]

On Mon, 2012-09-10 at 21:42 +1000, Brad Hards wrote:
> I think that "success" would need to be determined first.

Sure.

> Xapian might encourage more free software by remaining GPL, which
> might be a greater success than allowing (potentially) more use but no
> contributions back.

I think that's a deeply flawed argument which keeps getting repeated, as
it assumes that people (or companies) would contribute back because of
the license.

Companies contribute back because they understand that growing a
community around a project helps them to secure their investment and
that it frees them from a maintenance burden.

ciao Michael

PS: Thanks for the replies so far, I had indeed not found the license
page in the wiki.