SANTA CRUZ

Only 6 percent of developers working on Open Source software have adopted GPLv3, according to Evans Data Corp’s recently released Open Source Software Development Survey.

Two-thirds say they will not be adopting GPLv3 anytime in the next year, and 43 percent say they will never implement the new license. In addition, almost twice as many would be less likely to join a project that implements GPLv3 than would be more likely to join.

"GPLv3 is controversial because it imposes restrictions on what you can do with programs implemented under this license," said John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data Corp.

He added, “Developers are confused and divided about those restrictions, with fairly equal numbers agreeing with the restrictions, disagreeing with them, or thinking they will be unenforceable.”

Other findings from this in-depth survey of over 380 developers working on Open Source projects, include:

• Lack of skills in an organization was the greatest barrier to a migration from Windows to Linux

• The Apache Foundation was identified as the organization having the best Open Source offerings
• A third of Open Source developers are developing desktop applications

GPLv3 also incorporates a clause to forbid licensees from bringing patent infringement suits, directly attacking the recent Novell-Microsoft alliance. Seventy percent of the developers in the survey felt that alliance had been bad for the Open Source community.