> 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.
