Wired Magazine recently wrote an article regarding the launch of Version 3 of the popular GNU General Public License:

The updated license, commonly known as the GPLv3, addresses several issues affecting free software in the current technological ecosystem: digital rights management, consumers’ ability to modify their hardware devices and patent-protection agreements like the 2006 deal between Microsoft and Novell.

The free and open-source software movement is one of the most important cultural developments the computer industry has seen in the past 20 years. It has led to Linux — the third most popular operating system behind Windows and Mac OS X — and thousands of programs like Mozilla Firefox and BitTorrent, which users are free to run, share and modify.