Is the author still adding the "cite me or pay 10000€" notice to the output? And calling that GPL? And still answering every xargs Stackoverflow question with "you should use GNU Parallel" instead of answering the question? That really gets old quickly when googling for xarg answers. These are just some of the reasons I'll never use parallel. xargs is perfectly fine for most usecases, and it can do everything I need…
If you're a startup and relicensing previously open source code under a restrictive license or doing other shady things you'll get plenty of defenders to line up to say 'hey, they have to make a living somehow', but if a single guy tries to make a living via a simple message in a widely used program all hell breaks loose. What gives?
Part of the issue is that Ole’s citation notice doesn’t appear at first glance to some people to be compatible with the GPL. You have to read the language carefully, and read the history of GNU Parallel’s citation notice, to understand that the notice is not a licensing term.
Another part of the issue is that the notice doesn’t sound like someone just trying to make a living. It sounds like a demand or even a veiled threat, and one that is inflicted on everyone, not just academics. It’s not exactly clear about what the legal requirements even are.
I’m in favor of Ole getting citations, and I’m in favor of his right to ask. But the way it’s being asked for rubs me the wrong way a little bit, and it’s rubbed other people the wrong way a little bit ever since it was introduced. BTW, the whole reason it seems like all hell breaks loose, and the only reason this matters is precisely because the software is widely used. If it wasn’t widely used and it didn’t sit under the GNU umbrella, you’d never hear about this.