Google releases Gemma 4 under Apache 2.0 — and that license change may matter more than benchmarks

For the past two years, enterprises evaluating open-weight models have faced an awkward trade-off. Google's Gemma line consistently delivered strong performance, but its custom license — with usage restrictions and terms Google could update at will — pushed many teams toward Mistral or Alibaba's Qwen instead. Legal review added friction. Compliance teams flagged edge cases. And capable as Gemma 3 was, "open" with as…