When I think about technology companies that are major backers of the open source movement, I tend to think about Google and IBM.

The two companies publicly support open source efforts and both have built products that take advantage of open source software. Yet Google and IBM tend to prefer open source licenses other than GPL.

Why is that?

It's a question that has a few answers. It's also particularly interesting in the context of the current discussion about revisions to the GPL in version 3, which is expected to be finalized this year.

Google's manager of Open Source Programs Chris DiBona recently told me that Google typically chooses the Apache license as a way to help broad commercial and open source adoption. Google does also release software under the GPL and will continue to do so when it makes sense even after the GPL version 3 comes out.

IBM's Steve Mills told my colleague Clint Boulton at a recent event that IBM lives with the current GPL today though they don't particularly care for it much themselves.

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