[FFmpeg-user] More Liberal Licensing

[Suminda Sirinath Salpitikorala Dharmasena]

For a project like this, forking into a private or proprietary code base
with substantial modifications is not feasible as maintaining it will be
difficult and keeping up and modifying upstream changes will be very
difficult. Also maintaining a private hard fork will be very costly.

 > copyleft so everyone actually improves it

Being copyleft does not mean everyone improves it though many believe so.
Increase in the number of users is what will drive improvements. Usable
improvements are generally what gets actually upstreamed. Beyond a certain
threshold, keeping private improvements has a larger cost than upstreaming
it for large projects and when the modifications become extensive. *GPL
means that all forks need to be public, not that the modifications need to
be upstreamed. LGPL encourages to use a library as is without modification
when used in proprietary code. Encouraging modifications and
adaptation even in proriotery context will increase potential contributors
who are familiar with the code base. Even if a project they work on is
proprietary they can very well become contributors when those working on it
in their own time. *GPL reduces local improvements either local, private or
public from commential users and also subsequently upstreaming of the
changes once the changes become substatial. Once a library project grows
beyond a critical mass LGPL hurts the project more than helps.