Why would one use MIT vs GPL license

[muji786]

I'd be interested to find out which one is more open and transparent

[shiffman]

We'll cover this more hopefully later in the semester, was the discussion satisfactory in class in terms of this question for now?

Here are some links we referenced:

https://choosealicense.com/
https://exygy.com/which-license-should-i-use-mit-vs-apache-vs-gpl/

Another way of looking at it is that you’re picking a license based on what you are afraid of. All of these licenses assume you’re afraid of being sued. The MIT license is if you’re afraid no one will use your code; you’re making the licensing as short and non-intimidating as possible. The Apache License you are somewhat afraid of no one using your code, but you are also afraid of legal ambiguity and patent trolls. With the GPL licenses, you are afraid of someone else profiting from your work (and ambiguity, and patent trolls). This is a radical simplification, but if nothing else it can be a helpful framework in discussing with your attorney what license makes sense for your software.