>'this may have been true with desktop software but it is a lot less true with web software'
Oh it still IS true with desktop software, as in applications. Here GPL is pretty much the de facto standard open source licence.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'web software', web applications? If you are talking of frameworks/programming languages then those categories are indeed generally open sourced through MIT/BSD-style licencing or LGPL (where only changes directly made to the LGPL licenced code needs to be open sourced.
>'I think modern authors are more interested in others using their software unencumbered than they are concerned about some ideological battle or keeping software 'open'.'
I think 'modern authors' are being made aware of how companies are increasingly using or even basing their entire existance on open source but not contributing back at anything nearly the same extent. Worse, enhancements are being kept in-house thus requiring duplication of effort in order to gain those enhancements.
I think keeping open source 'open' is absolutely key. In some areas it is less necessary to enforce this through licences, traditionally these have been programming languages, frameworks, single purpose libraries - generally code which serves as building blocks. It also depends on how much you are reliant on/hoping for external help.
When Google releases a video codec or a programming language as open source then they aren't really looking for any contributions, they have enough man-power to develop it all themselves in the direction they so choose. They also have the man-power to match any features of proprietary forks.
If on the other hand you are releasing something which you believe is promising but you need help with it, or you release something finished which can be better, then GPL/LGPL makes perfect sense as you will as an 'end user' be subject to any enhancements done to your code in the form of source code.
Also, while companies undoubtably love 'using' BSD/MIT licenced code, when it comes to 'contributing' GPL seems favoured. Linux, GCC comes directly to mind as projects where companies pay developers to write GPL licenced code. Also companies who later choose to open source their proprietary projects generally seems to favour GPL, for example practically all commercial games which have been open sourced are licenced as GPL.
This brings me to my last point, which is that GPL is great for cooperative development. This is perhaps particularly attractive for large players competing in a field where they want to cooperate on something, obvious example is again the Linux kernel where companies like Red Hat, IBM, Oracle etc compete for the same market but cooperately develop the base product (Linux). I can't see something like this ever working using a BSD/MIT style licence as then they wouldn't be legally bound to share enhancements.
Oh it still IS true with desktop software, as in applications. Here GPL is pretty much the de facto standard open source licence.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'web software', web applications? If you are talking of frameworks/programming languages then those categories are indeed generally open sourced through MIT/BSD-style licencing or LGPL (where only changes directly made to the LGPL licenced code needs to be open sourced.
>'I think modern authors are more interested in others using their software unencumbered than they are concerned about some ideological battle or keeping software 'open'.'
I think 'modern authors' are being made aware of how companies are increasingly using or even basing their entire existance on open source but not contributing back at anything nearly the same extent. Worse, enhancements are being kept in-house thus requiring duplication of effort in order to gain those enhancements.
I think keeping open source 'open' is absolutely key. In some areas it is less necessary to enforce this through licences, traditionally these have been programming languages, frameworks, single purpose libraries - generally code which serves as building blocks. It also depends on how much you are reliant on/hoping for external help.
When Google releases a video codec or a programming language as open source then they aren't really looking for any contributions, they have enough man-power to develop it all themselves in the direction they so choose. They also have the man-power to match any features of proprietary forks.
If on the other hand you are releasing something which you believe is promising but you need help with it, or you release something finished which can be better, then GPL/LGPL makes perfect sense as you will as an 'end user' be subject to any enhancements done to your code in the form of source code.
Also, while companies undoubtably love 'using' BSD/MIT licenced code, when it comes to 'contributing' GPL seems favoured. Linux, GCC comes directly to mind as projects where companies pay developers to write GPL licenced code. Also companies who later choose to open source their proprietary projects generally seems to favour GPL, for example practically all commercial games which have been open sourced are licenced as GPL.
This brings me to my last point, which is that GPL is great for cooperative development. This is perhaps particularly attractive for large players competing in a field where they want to cooperate on something, obvious example is again the Linux kernel where companies like Red Hat, IBM, Oracle etc compete for the same market but cooperately develop the base product (Linux). I can't see something like this ever working using a BSD/MIT style licence as then they wouldn't be legally bound to share enhancements.