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Still Trying to Understand the OS Model
After five years or so, I'm still trying to understand how OS is good for Joe IT worker. Forget all the arguments like: It's free, or it promotes endless innovation streams, or that it's great being able to change the kernel to do some special task or whatever, from my perspective, I'm struggling to understand how OS let's me as an average Joe IT worker earn a living. I know it's like anything else that needs development, administration, and support, but I thought these things are often time provided by the Internet through online groups, blogs, or whatever for free. How can something that evolves through fewer people being paid to do these tasks keep me employed or make me more money? Really OS seems to be about people volunteering their time for the greater good. If everyone with a knack for IT stuff suddenly decides to spend a lot of their idle time doing things for free, doesn't this make a lot of other people redundent? What's to keep China, a communist country, to develop it's own OS operating system and related stacks of computer software, supplant M$ and IBM and the dominate computer software companies in the world and then decide to start charging people subscriptions to the stuff, once they've grabbed enough market share and worked the vast majority of the kinks out? Do we really want the USA to turn into something like France and Spain, two hugely socialist countries?

Again. I still don't get it, but I'm not going to hold my breath for IBM to opensource AIX, Tivoli, WebSphere or HP to do the same with OpenView, or M$ with Windows.
Posted by: jjworleyeoe   Posted on: 04/05/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Waaah!  John L. Ries | 04/05/05
GPL as ice-nine  Roger Ramjet | 04/06/05
Only if...  John L. Ries | 04/06/05
Something for Nothing  webnut4u2 | 04/08/05
Still Trying to Understand the OS Model  jjworleyeoe | 04/05/05
Becoming pure service  alandd | 04/05/05
Maybe in your closed mind  Qbt | 04/05/05
Downhill fast!  alandd | 04/05/05
You still don't get it  Qbt | 04/05/05
Careful with assumptions  alandd | 04/06/05
Re: Maybe in your closed mind  criderja | 04/06/05
Plumbers,Roofers,Carpenters,Painters, etc. get paid for their labor (NT)  Update victim | 04/06/05
And you seem to misunderstand the issue  rfc1394 | 04/06/05
Open Source  Qbt | 04/05/05
A little off  alandd | 04/05/05
Software paid for... once.  Anton Philidor | 04/05/05
True, but...  alandd | 04/05/05
Some points  Qbt | 04/05/05
About Business models  voska | 04/06/05
That is fine  Qbt | 04/06/05
Re: That is fine  criderja | 04/06/05
I've not felt the expectation  voska | 04/06/05
However the software industry is a business model.  rkadowns | 04/06/05
MS removed the demand  alandd | 04/06/05
Preloaded software  richhayes | 04/06/05
True, but also more complicated,  Anton Philidor | 04/05/05
My two cents  Roger Ramjet | 04/06/05
The problem is...  Qbt | 04/06/05
Someone, maybe you  rkadowns | 04/06/05
The flaw in your argument  Mack DaNife | 04/06/05
Don't understand OS benefits??  Mizzlec | 04/21/05
This how you  voska | 04/06/05
Why should I care?  doe_z | 04/06/05
Making money out of FOSS  CypherOz | 04/06/05
Mr open source reality check.  jimk_z | 04/05/05
Duh!  alandd | 04/05/05
What a selfish viewpoint  pa2004 | 04/05/05
Simple, don't like it, don't use it!  Richard Flude | 04/05/05
Exactly  Tim Patterson | 04/05/05
Forking is better than current status  Wagadonga | 04/05/05
GPL Does What it Says It Does  BanjoPaterson | 04/06/05
there's plenty of BSD licence software around, go use it!  hipparchus2000 | 04/06/05
As with others, he doesn't want to get it  criderja | 04/06/05
It's just NOT FAIR!  fullebr@... | 04/06/05
I want it, but the GPL won't let me have it for free.  Update victim | 04/06/05
FOSS does have a good business model  boobasaurus | 04/06/05
Oh Sun, such a world twit  FilledOut | 04/07/05
Interesting development...  overload_z | 04/08/05

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