GPL, BSD, Opensource/Free Software movement.

I've be a mindless supporter of these movements for years now not because I was a developer myself but because most of them provided me with a lot of useful free software.

However now that I'm becoming more of a programmer I'm questioning the ideology behind these movements.

1. For which situations are these intended? For every developer?
2. Doesn't it go against the developer himself? How can he secure profit while still sustain such projects?

Just willing to learn.
Thanks.

>>12

freedom for the users

This is yet another way of looking at it.


So if I may as a question.

Say a software company finally makes a breakthrough in say computer vision. Something that can radically change computer visual input. How would said company go about ensuring a profit and the merited credits for such a discovery?

Say the company is willing to provide the source code (or pseudo code or whatever representation they use at such high levels; bear with me I'm just a newb) for improvements and such but doesn't want such methodology to be mercilessly copied by the competition (which would obviously be such a waste in R&D).

Could say a license be provided that allows everybody to view and modify the source code but he/she is not to use it unless given permission from the creator?