Future holds dual GPL licences, says author

Current GPL 2 here to stay with Linux holding out on switching to GPL 3.

Although he still expects that the majority of the software that's governed by the General Public Licence will move over to the forthcoming third version, the licence's co-author Eben Moglen has conceded that the second and third versions will have to co-exist. 

"It is likely that the movement to GPL 3 will be swift and simple, but some projects will be GPL 2 only," Moglen told vnunet.com at the Linuxworld conference in San Francisco.

"There will be arrangements for the two licences to co-exist."

The Free Software Foundation published a second draft of the GPL 3 last July.

The Linux operating system has publicly indicated that it won't switch the new version when it comes out.

Linux founder Linux Torvards has repeatedly lashed out against the anti-patent and anti-DRM provisions in the GPL3, accusing the authors of using the popular open source licence to fight religious battles.

"At one time we thought that everything was going to move to version 3," Stuart Cohen, chief executive of the Open Source Development Labs told vnunet.com in an interview.

The OSDL is the employer of Torvalds. The organization aims to increase the use of Linux and open source in the enterprise and is funded by IT vendors including Intel, IBM and Computer Associates.

"We are now marching towards a world where there are going to be v2 licences and v3 licences. We think that's all right," Cohen said.

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