Sun criticizes popular open-source license

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True, but also more complicated,

It's possible to obtain sufficient distance from open source software incorporated that you can still charge for your product. Think of the process as creating a software "clean room" where the open source portion doesn't touch the proprietary.
Sounds to me like future employment for a lot of lawyers, but theoretically possible.

Remember, too, that a lot of open source stuff is like Linux, primarily if not entirely a collaborative effort of companies to create cheap software useful for making profits in other ways, such as hardware and services. The people involved are paid and are making their contribution during working hours.
Certain uses are marked out for the free stuff that fits into the overall business plan. The companies are foregoing profit in some software to make a lerger profit, even on the proprietary software they also sell.

And then, the biggest impact of Linux, for instance, is on Unix. Open source hasn't done Microsoft much harm, though you're right that support is generated by pretending Microsoft is the target, but the Unix world is being remade.

One of the bad aspects of open source is its imitative quality. Not everyone is Microsoft, which can keep adding to its products to stay ahead. If your product is replicated by an open source project, you're probably out of luck.

So, if open source disappeared tomorrow, the typical IT worker would be entitled to say, "Good riddance." Even the paid workers are only displacing other paid workers.
But the way open source works has gotten complicated, and it's only going to get worse. All we can depend on is that companies exploiting open source will make money, and people are going to have their lives disrupted.
Assuming a cheap software company arose in open source's stead, the good parts would be retained if open source disappeared.

From open source: All pain, no gain.

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

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