The International Herald Tribune has an article, taken from the Boston Globe, on the travails caused profit-hoping software companies by the need to ensure that their products contain no code subject to any of the dozens of open source licenses floating around.

As would be expected, the GPL is the biggest concern, because anyone who incorporates GPL-covered code must make their own programs available, freely and for free.

Naturally, "law firms, consultants, software developers and technology service companies . . . are moving to capitalize on the jitters that have been spreading in the business world. " The president of a software company that specializes in code audits happily estimates the total market opportunity here at $500 million by next year.

posted by James DeLong @ 4:41 PM | Software

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