You may want to review your history. The GPL is copyleft -it only exists to subvert copyright law by using it against itself in a sort of intellectual legal judo. If "IP" laws were not as they were, there would be no need for the GPL. Software would be Free.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft

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mitthrowaway2 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Even if companies didn't have copyright protection on their source code, that doesn't mean they'd post it all on the internet for anybody to freely download.

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koonsolo an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You are not a developer so you don't understand you can compile to a binary without revealing your sources?

No copyright -> No GPL -> anyone can release their own close source version of open source software.

Why do you think GPL was create in the first place? We always had public domain you know.

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4chandaily an hour ago | parent [-]

My compilers work just fine? Perhaps I'm not sure what your point is.

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koonsolo 44 minutes ago | parent [-]

My point is that you are unable to understand the difference between GPL and public domain.

	▲	4chandaily 14 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Okay.