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== Is it Viral? ==

For a long time (and it still continues), the GPL was labelled "viral" (in a bad way) because if you let GPL code touch your proprietary code, you'll be forced to share your proprietary code. That's only half true. Articles like [http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-consultant/legal-considerations-when-using-free-software-in-it-consulting-projects/ this one] talk about this viral nature, but don't even touch on the other half of the story: what triggers the license. You have to "distribute" software to trigger the GPL, so if all you ever do is use the software (plus GPL additions) for your own internal purposes, then you have all the right in the world to use GPL software without having to publish your software to the world. Of course many people recognized that they could circumvent distribution by making "services" out of free software, for example, an online logo generator that uses the [[GIMP]] as a backend. This is sometimes called the ASP loophole. In drafting the GPLv3, there was an attempt to define network transmission of services tantamount to distributing the software. This did not ultimately make it into the GPLv3, but instead is part of the variant called the Affero GPL (or AGPL)<ref>https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.html</ref>. The AGPL license has not been as popular as the GPLv2, but at least it's there for software developers to use when they want to prevent their creations from getting boxed up in the cloud. Of greater concern to the corporation is how distribution ''can'' be triggered in some non-obvious ways - such as through merger and aquisition<ref>See Distribution explained</ref>.