Linux to soon cross GPL paradigm

NEW DELHI: As the open source movement gains momentum, more and more vendors are making sure that they do not miss out on the Linux opportunity and one of the dormant difficulties in front of Linux - the availability of General Public License (GPL) format is likely to be solved soon.

"We are making good progress in this direction and now a lot of vendors for Palmtops, webcams, OCRs and scanners are coming out with GPL format when it comes to providing their products. Not surprisingly, niche segments such as smart card readers and thumb readers are also riding with the open source wave by making sure the availability of GPL format in all their products," explained enterprise sales head at Red Hat India Sachin Dabir.

The GPL is used by thousands of programmers worldwide, who want to give others the right to copy and modify the source code of their programs. Availability of GPL complaint products will make sure that open source realizes its full potential.

Under the GPL, the licensee is free to distribute or modify the software product, provided that the modifications, both in binary and source code form, remain free to the public under the terms of the GPL. In addition, the licensee must provide all build scripts, interface definitions, and installation scripts necessary to compile and install the program.

.CyberMedia News Service