BSD-like licenses seem to be the standard for userland graphics libraries. There's a lot of useful stuff in there (for example the shader compiler) that may be of general use elsewhere, and we wanted to make sure people could use it.
The 3-clause BSD is a compromise - we're happy for the stuff to be used but it's nice to get some credit :)
Thank you for the clarification. It seems overly generous =)
Often code is GPL'd with pricey licenses for commercial applications - which always makes me think twice about investing my time into familiarizing with it.
I'm very impressed they aren't trying to make a quick buck here. It sounds like they have a very innovative long term strategy that will pay off many times over.
I think your competition is also fantastic, as it will encourage people to open source their improvements.
The 3-clause BSD is a compromise - we're happy for the stuff to be used but it's nice to get some credit :)