[vox-tech] Urgent news: Linux may be relicensed

[Micah Cowan]

Bob Scofield wrote:
> I can't find anything about this on the CNN website.  And judging from the two 
> replies to this message I don't know if this is serious.

It wasn't. I was almost willing to accept it at first, but even then, I 
knew one simple fact: no matter what Linus' intentions might be, it is 
legally impossible for him (or anyone else) to relicense Linux as 
anything other than GPL. This is because he doesn't own the Linux source 
code: only a small fraction of it, basically. That and the trademarked 
name "Linux", itself. In order to change the lincese, the entire 
community of everyone who ever contributed source code to Linux would 
have to agree with the move, which is of course logistically impossible.

Happy April Fool's Day! :-)

-Micah