In the continuing and complex drama surrounding MySQL and Oracle, RMS expressed concerns on the acquisition, and later expounded on his position in “On Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL“.

The latter document is an informative read, and Bruce Byfield has an insightful take on the situation in his article “Selling GPL Exceptions isn’t Exceptional“.

What Lies Beneath

Although the actual specifics are fairly interesting in and of themselves, I’m more interested in an underlying theme, one that Mr. Byfield astutely hits upon here:

Both supporters and opponents of the FSF sometimes seem to have created a set of straw figures to react to. More >