Re: Lets talk about GUI and sound libraries
- From: goose <lkman-spamtrap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:00:20 +0200
Bill Atkins wrote:
<snipped>
I agree. I think open source is a neat way of getting ideas out into
the world and a good way to play with ideas that probably can't be
sold. I just disagree that the alleged "freedom" always makes your
life better.
IME, absolutism is bad for the soul.
In my experience, the immaturity of some open-source
programs makes getting certain things done so hassleful that it's just
not worth the time. A lot of these same things are done trivially with
commercial software.
To be perfectly honest, that sword cuts both
ways:
1. I've got to reinstall a windows XP pro machine; having
done this before I am putting it off until I have the
time to babysit the machine while it installs/configures/activates
itself. I also have to search for that damn product code that
it came with (who *knows* where I may have left it?) and
carefully type a 15 character code in. After that, I still
need to install my compilers and editors *one* *at* *a* *time*
because I haven't found a way to simply run unattended
installations for installshield crap.
which requires my to find an internet line or phone
a microsoft call centre.
2. I've just installed FreeBSD 6.1 on my laptop. Ran the
script I normally use to install the usual suspects (emacs,
vim, firefox, etc) from the second CD.
In #1 the commercial software is a pain in the rear to
install because of all the steps I have to take just
to setup, activate and install software on. That machine
has been standing inactive for almost 3 months now, as
I just don't have the energy to run through all the
manual steps involved.
In #2, A mere 10 minutes of my time is required (start it
up, go away, come back and type for 3 minutes, put in second
cd, start script and go away).
Sure, some things are done trivially with commercial software
and some things are a hassle with free software, but that
isn't the general rule.
I think there is some truth to the idea that the
availablity of FLOSS software hurts the commercial sector.
This is actually the point I wanted to respond to. You are
correct up to a point; there is some truth to that idea,
but it's not a universal TRUTH, it's more like a "sometimes,
under certain conditions" kinda truth (see below).
A company
now has to produce software that not only works, but works so well that
it beats free software that mostly works. IMO, this is taking the
software world (or at least our part of it) backwards. People are
settling for immature or buggy software because it's "free" (in either
sense of the word), so solid commercial software is harder to sell.
I'm not too sure that putting such companies under pressure
is such a bad idea. Would microsoft have continued development
if firefox had not arrived? I highly doubt it - their strategy
was to make sure that web-services were never viable and an
all-powerful IE would have lessened their monopoly power.
OTOH, I'm glad that companies like SCO are under pressure from
linux/freebsd. Their product sucked, their service was even
worse and their attitude was "well, you cannot get unix on
pc from anywhere else so we're going to ride you as hard as we
want to".
On the third hand, it is sad when a company goes under
because their is no practical way for it to compete
with cheap labour (although this is more prevalent
in import-friendly first-world countries).
Lastly, I've pointed out before (and doubtless I'll
be pointing out again in this ng) that more companies go
out of business due to commercial competitors rather than
FOSS competitors.
The natural state (in a capitalistic economy) of any industry
is a single company. As a company gets bigger, they acquire
more power and buy the smaller ones out until their are only
a few companies who then collude (cartel) to maintain
artificially high prices and keep out newcomers. These
cartels are then effectively a single company.
Business is a very cutthroat business.
<snipped>
goose,
--
Have I offended you? Send flames to root@localhost
real email: lelanthran at gmail dot com
website : www.lelanthran.com
.
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- Re: Lets talk about GUI and sound libraries
- From: Bill Atkins
- Re: Lets talk about GUI and sound libraries
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