If the GPL seems like a bad idea from the standpoint of commercialism, consider the surge of successful open source software projects—they are indicative of a system that does indeed work. This success has evolved for two reasons. First errors in the code itself are far more likely to be caught and quickly fixed under the watchful eyes of peers. Second, under the GPL system, programmers can release code without the fear of being sued. Without that protection, people may not feel as comfortable to release their code for public consumption.