Sun criticizes popular open-source license

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Re: Maybe in your closed mind: To start with the end of your message, the vast majority of software developers have a great deal of respect for a EULA. They simply choose not to use software which comes with terms they find unacceptable. And as long as you show the same respect to GPL software, you can have any opinion of it you want.

You are correct about one thing. No-one has the right to tell a company they cannot follow the closed software business model. But neither is any company entitled to remain in business just because they choose to follow that business model, just as buggy-whip manufacturers were not entitled to any protection when the automobile displaced the horse and buggy.

I suppose for the small minority of developers that have spent their entire careers working for proprietary software companies, open source software does appear very frightening, especially those that have become wealthy as a result. However, according to most studies I've seen, that is probably less than 20% of all developers. For the rest of us that have spent part or all of our career making a modest living developing custom software for in-house or contract customers, and for companies whose primary product is not software, open source software has some very attractive features. One, the less money my employer has to spend on software licensing, the more that is available for growing the core business, which improves my chances of staying employed. Two, the more I'm able to do my job using open source tools, the less I have to spend to obtain tools for my home system in order to maintain and improve my skills, allowing me to spend more on other interests. Three, to an employer, it should make sense to allow developers to contribute to open source projects that are used by the company, as it results in having better software available without giving that money to another company in licensing fees.

As I see it, open source software may make it impossible for anyone else to between extremely wealthy just selling software, as Bill Gates and a few others have done, but it will free that money up for spending on other things, so it will benefit the overall economy, and it will benefit the majority of software developers, those that work for businesses for which software is not the primary product. The minority of developers that will be adversely affected will just have to adapt to the changing times, as people in many industries have had to do throughout history.; Posted by: criderja Posted on: 04/06/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use