GPL = Capitalist’s dream?

Charlie Babcock continues his analysis of the GPL and the benefits that accrue to its users. With 72% of Sourceforge projects powered by the GPL, you might be tempted to think that the GPL is a developer’s dream. In this, you would not be wrong.

But you’d be missing the equally valid (and profitable) point that the GPL is also a capitalist’s dream:

The GPL “changes the relationship with the customer and changes it in a strong way. Now when we go out to sell our product, our product is our company,” and not a shrink wrap software package, Asay said.

One of the great ironies of the GPL 17 years after its creation is that is has become an unabashed creator of companies that compete effectively. If its critics are feeling the heat, let them explain why.

Think about that last point. Name the most successful open source vendors that come to your mind. Now name those that license their software under the GPL.

Notice anything? The lists are almost exactly the same. Most of the successful open source companies also use the GPL.

Is this a historical accident? I don’t think so. The GPL, contrary to popular belief, facilitates a commercial software business. It is not an inhibitor. As I wrote back in 2004:

We are sitting on the most exciting IT business model capitalism has ever seen, all thanks to the GPL. It’s a model that will take software commoditization – started by Microsoft two decades ago – to the next level, pillaging all those who fail to capitalize on this new model. In the process, open source will dramatically expand the software market by making IT affordable to hitherto excluded would-be buyers, much like the lowered cost of cell phones and other technologies ended up massively inflating their markets.

Richard Stallman and Adam Smith – bosom buddies?

I think so.

Whether this model works in the SMB space, I don’t know. There, I think it’s important to take the license completely out of the equation, and go SaaS. But in the enterprise world, companies will pay for value, and the bits should be the start of the conversation, not the end of it.

But enterprises aren’t buying open souce beyond Linux, you say? Rubbish. They’re buying open source in droves, and GPL (and LGPL) software more than anything else.

I write this from a Manhattan conference room where a group of open source enterprise content management company Alfresco’s customers – customers that have bought into the GPL – are gathered to discuss our roadmap and how we can improve as a company. The group includes three of the world’s largest financial services companies, two of the world’s premier universities, one of the US’ largest federal agencies, two of the world’s biggest gaming companies, and two of the world’s premier publishing organizations. We spent exactly $0.00 in field sales costs and little more than $0.00 to market to them. They found us. And they are spending considerably more than $0.00 on free, GPL code.

That’s the power of open source and, I believe, that’s the particular power of the GPL.