While he sees the GPLv3 as “extremely good”, Andrew “Tridge” Tridgell believes that the free software licence still needs strengthening.

In a video interview at linux.conf.au in Melbourne, the founder of the Samba project, Andrew Tridgell, said that the anti-DRM provisions didn’t go far enough.

“Some people complain a lot about the anti-DRM provisions, and I would have liked to see those actually be even stronger than they are. Because currently they’ve got some limitations in there that limits some of the anti-DRM provisions of GPLv3 to only being applicable to consumer products. Which means it leaves out, for example, some Samba appliances.

“I’d like to see a future version of the GPL perhaps going a little bit stronger than that and applying it to the non-consumer/enterprise appliances as well” said Tridgell.

Overall though, Tridgell said that it was a licence he was delighted to adopt.

“I think it’s gone extremely well. I think the process that the Software Freedom Law Centre and Free Software Foundation has gone through was quite a remarkable one — in terms of openness, in terms of the degree of community consultation — and I really think they should be applauded for that.”

Last July, the Samba project announced that all future versions of Samba would be released under GPLv3.