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Re: GCC 4.4.0 Status Report (2009-03-13)
> Many of the contributors worked (and still work) for organizations
> that compete with each other: if there weren't some nonprofit with
> legal ownership of the code one would have had to be invented.
I think this is an important point, and one that many developers have
forgotten about: GCC is not just a volunteer effort, but one that involves
a lot of companies, who are often competitors. These companies can only
legally work together on a project under certain conditions, and the
existence of the FSF who owns the code is one of the ways (and the best
way) that can be done. Given the universality of GCC nowadays, the risk of
anti-trust law being invoked on its development should be more than a
theoretical concern.