Re: Open Source vs. Commercial


|
| You are confusing politics and economics. I'm not interested in denying
| anybody their right to do what they want with their time. In fact, I'm not
| addressing rights at all. I'm pointing out that "free" software is not
free,
| it does come at a cost. The time used to produce FOSS is time that is not
| available for those individuals to use for something else. Furthermore,
the
| impact of free software on long-term innovation and salaries IS a negative
| externality that makes this my business, your business, and the business
of
| everyone interested in making a living from writing software. That
| externality is a cost that demonstrates that resources are NOT being
| optimally allocated.
|
| The fact that you like to entertain the myth that individuals are
| self-contained microcosms can not undo the fact that this cost exists.
|


There would be no internet without open technologies. Even if not exactly
OSS or strictly OSS, things like HTTP and TCP/IP wouldn't exist without
cooperation minus the money. If we all had to pay for TCP/IP and HTTP
licenses, or each company had a patent on it's own protocol, we wouldn't be
here on the internet. We'd have intranets, but no internet. That's why
things like Apple's firewire is not as successful. It has patents. The
corporate way, the business way. Things like microsoft are really miniscule,
if you consider all the money that could be made selling "http licenses".
Imagine if you had to pay for using HTTP protocol, because someone had a
patent on it.. a nice little corporation. Imagine if you had to pay a
royalty every time you used HTTP. THere has to be some open-ness or it just
won't work. The companies just profit by getting away with as much opennesss
as they can in one area, but then charging heaps of money for other areas.
I.e borland doesn't charge you consulting fees for these newsgroups, but
that's because the newsgroups are promoting their thousands of dollars worth
of software


.

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