mike.mccarty@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Tim wrote:
Mike McCarty:
One issue with this is in deployment in concert with development.
Let's say that a company is going to build a new device, and wants
to put an OS on an embedded computer, and develop some applications
to run on it. This company does not want to divulge its trade
secrets to the whole world for copying. Special techniques which
may, for example, allow a cell phone to use lower power and still
achieve good range, hence not cooking your brain.
Tim:
Do you really think that competitors can't do that without access
to the
source code? Taking that example as a case in point, spectrum
analysers
Mike McCarty:
Are you arguing with me, or with the large corporate lawyers?
Against the point of view that source code, in itself, is a deadly
secret. Against the idea that you can't sell a product without its
workings being secret. Against the idea that you can keep its workings
secret. And against the idea that suddenly you're out of business if
someone else discovers how it works.
Then against the lawyers.
Mike
It really does come down to a socialism vs. capitalism argument in the
end. The pro [L]GPL crowd points to a claimed beneficial leveling
affect by everyone having access to everything and the pro closed source
crowd points out that they won't work unless they see a profit from
their labor. As with many such issues, the scale of the contributor has
a profound affect with mega-companies like Microsoft exhibiting all of
the ill behavior associated with 19th century robber barons while the
small contributors who have voiced an opinion here point out that they
provide a unique solution that wouldn't be available to their customers
if they weren't providing it. Thus, some of us don't see a way to turn
our little piece of the software world into a service oriented business
but we do see enough customers willing to pay for our genius to make
their life better and put bread on our table (the usual capitalist
equation).
At least looking at history, socialist countries have stagnated while
capitalist countries have created the miracles of the modern world. I'm
quite happy being exploited by said capitalists here in the USA and have
no desire to go live in a "worker's paradise" such as North Korea. My
guess is we'll eventually see a mixed software economy develop where
software that has a sufficient user/interest base will be free or nearly
so and highly specialized programs that require significant arcane
expertise will continue to demand a price and will be closed source to
protect the investment in their development. Demand that these programs
release their source code and you will just see these choices be limited
or cease to exist when the developers no longer have a way to recoup
their development costs.
Cheers,
Dave
