Open-source companies see profit aplenty

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THIS is what free software is all about!

This is what is propelling GPL products (especially Linux) forward at an astounding rate. This is the GPL at its best. The GPL is DESIGNED to accomodate proprietary enhancements. It is tougher to deal with than the BSD license because it has built in safeguards to prevent exploitation - that is, if you build on a GPL foundation, you've got to GPL your contributions. But, if you add real standalone innovations, you can retain proprietary rights to those components. At the same time these companies tend to aggresively dump older proprietary technologies back into the GPL pool when it serves their strategic needs (sometimes the most effective way to get a leg up on a competitor is to actually give away a product). This is producing a new model that can actually accellerate the profits of those companies that understand and embrace it. Eventually, those companies will out perform and marginalize companies that cling to the traditional full proprietary model. Consumers will benefit from lower prices while vendors experience far lower labor costs and significantly higher profits. Watch it happen. This is a long term trend and nothing will stop it, though many will waste their fortunes and their careers on an effort at opposing it. Even Microsoft has developed a quasi-GPL license for some of their software. Even they see the writing on the wall.

Posted by: George Mitchell   Posted on: 05/20/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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