That's Not Science: The FSF's Analysis of GPL Usage

Matthew Aslett | The 451 Group | March 5, 2012

The Free Software Foundation has responded to our analysis of figures that indicate that the proportion of open source projects using the GPL is in decline. Specifically, FSF executive director John Sullivan gave a presentation at FOSDEM which asked “Is copyleft being framed”. You can find his slides here, a write-up about the presentation here, and Slashdot discussion here.

Most of the opposition to the earlier posts on this subject addressed perceived problems with the underlying data, specifically that it comes from Black Duck, which does not publish details of its methodology. John’s response is no exception. “That’s not science,” he asserts, with regards to the lack of clarity...