>All it takes is to list projects like Linux and GCC to show that yes, companies can give something back just fine with GPL.
That only works for server software, like Linux, and basic infrastructure that tons of companies use, like GCC, etc.
And it works because they don't have to distribute said software. On the server side, it doesn't make any difference if the license is BSD or GPL.
In both cases, companies get to make whatever changes they want, deploy at their infrastructure, and NOT release the code (because they're not re-distributing it).
Plus, in a lot of cases, they use Linux as a commodity underlying layer, so they don't care about making proprietary changes at all.
That only works for server software, like Linux, and basic infrastructure that tons of companies use, like GCC, etc.
And it works because they don't have to distribute said software. On the server side, it doesn't make any difference if the license is BSD or GPL.
In both cases, companies get to make whatever changes they want, deploy at their infrastructure, and NOT release the code (because they're not re-distributing it).
Plus, in a lot of cases, they use Linux as a commodity underlying layer, so they don't care about making proprietary changes at all.