Quote:
Originally Posted by sjfan
“Swiped” is a loaded word—did Google “swipe” Linux to make Android in the first place? It's open-source and copyleft. Reusing it is not just allowed but explicitly encouraged.
Google was allowed (happily) to leverage Linux into a multi-billion dollar product. They benefited greatly from the work countless others did in the process. The quid pro quo for using that code—well known going into things—is that others can, in turn, freely use (and modify, sell, distribute, etc) the parts of Android that are derived works of Linux.
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Yes, I do understand copyleft and forking Linux. There's a reason Amazon wasn't sued for Fire OS. I guess it just felt like a one/two punch when coupled with the app store debacle.