During his keynote speech at FISL (Fórum Internacional de Software Livre) in Brazil, Eric Raymond said, “We don’t need the GPL anymore. It’s based on the belief that open source software is weak and needs to be protected. Open source would be succeeding faster if the GPL didn’t make lots of people nervous about adopting it.” (Quote found here)
The purpose of ther GPL is not to make people accept open source software – the GPL is about Free Software. Open Source software is in a legally and morally weaker position than Free Software. In addition to this the GPL contains within it a fundamental social goal which Open Source does not.
Open source is a method of production – Free Software is creating a social infrastructure which is not the property of anyone and therefore can be used freely by those who need or want it.