Linux contributors get new rules

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Exaggerating

You wrote:
Many agree that Linux is a usable alternative to Windows and in some cases, better! I think that is quite an accomplishment for something that is supposedly built by volunteers.

Well, I'm not supposing that it's built entirely by volunteers. That's an exaggeration.

Large companies like IBM and specialized companies like Red Hat are also significant. They provide work from their staff and support to buyers. Primarily, they provide credibility to businesses.

In return, they get to steer the direction of the software. The capabilities added to Linux are not coincidental.

Why do they do all this for a free product? Cheap labor. The work that volunteers do lets them lower the total cost of their hardware and services and other software.
That to me is what makes them exploiters.
The software they receive for free is necessary to make sales; they leverage it. They would have to pay skilled people to supply what the volunteers do if the volunteers were not available.
Think of it as a form of outsourcing.



In response to my comment:
Whatever my feelings, the courts will probably demand such a result. Prominent products like Linux must have a central authority.
you wrote:
You will need to clarify, as I am probably misunderstanding you. Courts probably could do that [order actions concerning Linux], but I don't see why they will force so many programmers to give up ownership of their code to someone else.

If you want to use the Articles metaphor, Linux doesn't have a central government (weak or not). It has a cabinet of advisors whose advice has a lot of weight (Linus T., IBM, OSDL, RedHat...). Unlike with the States, the demands placed on the product are shared by the community and the cabinet. It is like everyone works together for the better of the whole.


You may be exaggerating the complexity of what I said.
The courts probably won't ever mandate surrender of the code to the central Linux authority. But if they give an order concerning Linux, it's hard for me to think they would accept back an answer that no one has control, so nothing can be done.
As long as everyone providing code, etc. explicitly agrees to the authority of a policy-making body, there won't be any trouble.

I thought the Articles of Confederation a good analogy, because the function of the Federal government didn't go much beyond providing a place for representatives of the States to sit and discuss problems.
No one was making decisions for the country that would stick.

So long as Linux was the property of hobbyists and software didn't involve the courts much, the type organization you describe can work. Those days are past. The field has discovered the importance of governments, particularly the court system, and phalanxes of lawyers are rushing in shouting their battle cries.
Court cases are expensive and complicated and time consuming. Representation is paid by the hour, so this is not surprising.

I'm looking at only the impact of these facts on Linux, and I think the community is going to have to organize itself to meet the challenges. Doesn't mean they can't and won't, does mean they're going to have to resemble more and more the proprietary companies which to government and the courts in particular are the model of how the entities appearing before them are supposed to be constructed.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 05/24/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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