Why the Anti GNU Movement ?

Following a link from a news site, I found the Anti GNU Movement and read the two posts there. The author, apparently, wants to convince fellow programmers that they should not release code under the GPL. Since the code I post is usually under such license, I feel compelled to state my reasons.

For context, please note that I fail to be incensed, one way or the other, at "communism". I live in what is considered a traditionally "communist" region of Italy, yet I used to vote against communism because of the chance it might somehow help the Soviet Union; when that risk went away, I lost interest. I thought the same should happen to most people, except maybe a few extremists, but over the following years I kept noticing that communism had became a recurrent scare word.

At first guess, I believe this is because a number of people who enjoy some degree of power over others (a communist might use "employer" and "workers" as examples, but this is so 20th century) would lose such power should those who are subjected to such power make good of their numbers and together oppose its exercise. The notion that such concerted effort has often a leader, which becomes the one wielding power, is of no comfort to those who risk losing whatever power they have; and losing something you have is an undisputed source of fear.

Having something to lose would explain why some software companies actively oppose the GPL. Microsoft, for example, is probably afraid of losing the control it enjoys over its desktop users, and possibly acrimonious because its attempt to gain control of the server failed; there's no indication that Microsoft is losing money under any shape or form, so it's not about money, it's about control.

However, although Microsoft got the ball rolling, they're not alone in saying that the GPL is communism; a number of voices over the Internet sing to the same tune, and the above blog is but one.

Unless this is another case of astroturfing, one would be tempted to think that some opponents of the GPL, especially among small companies and professional freelancers, actually resent the fact that the GPL makes building something they can sell on top of the work of others, without giving neither money nor code back, riskier than they would like.

Yet, opponents of the GPL include, for example, Alexander Terekhov, whose postings on subjects such as POSIX thread programming make it hard to believe he would need to sink that low. I cannot dismiss the possibility, therefore, that opposition to the GPL may be borne of purely ideological reasons; after all, it is a document where ideology plays a substantial role.

As you might have noticed, this author has not stated yet his reasons for using the GPL; for one, unlike the above, I am not at risk of losing something from doing so - I fail to see how I would incur any inconvenience should Microsoft lose control of the desktop, for example. Furthermore, I cannot help but regard those who would like to exploit somebody else's GPL code without giving back as parasites, so any step taken to hinder such activities looks to me as the moral equivalent of basic hygiene. Last, the activities of others releasing their code under the GPL provided me with a computing environment which I find more desiderable than other alternatives, so I have reason to believe that in doing the same I might be able to contribute back, thus furthering my own interests. It's as simple as that.