Not so fast

A strange article over at ZDNet, fretting about Linux's immaturity, and salivating over the possibility of Solaris and Linux merging because both will be GPL V3'd (in some possible world). Clearly, Perlow doesn't seem to understand just how difficult relicensing the kernel would be. Linus isn't the one who makes the decision in this regard; there are thousands and thousands of contributors to the kernel, all of whom would have to be contacted and their permission taken for this relicensing. This is what I might delicately describe as an intractable problem. While all the net chatter about Linus' resistance to GPL V3 was entertaining (as flame wars usually for a while), there is very little chance that Linux will be relicensed.