IBM opens up its Power line

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open source is a wrench & screwdriver...

...not a hammer and sickle.

Why on earth do people go on and on
'the socialist ideologue underpinning "open source". ' I've not seen any one of these people put up a convincing argument that it is anything of the sort. Oh and socialism isn't about a "money for nothing concept".

You'll notice that the Chinese are busy developing licening their own DVD encryption standards (not very open for socialists) or perhaps people are refering to the flood of free software that used to come out of the Soviet Union... like erm...

Perhaps those oh so socialist government workers of Munich (where the BMWs are made who have Linux on their desktops and saved the tax payers some money are the ones you're refering to?

Open Source is simply a codification of a process that was already ongoing that is meant to protect code written and shared from being exploited and sold by those who hadn't actually invested into it.

It is used to build applications and services which make money. Its also used to build applications and services which don't... but the dot.com boom showed you can not make money on a whole range of proprietary software too.

IBM and others aren't doing Open Source because its political they are doing it because its good business sense (in many but not all cases) to use a well made tool that you can tinker with and tailor to your own use rather than having to take an off the peg item you have no control over.

I see Open Source tools eg Linux, Apache, etc as enablers for those with good business ideas to get their business started. That has to be good for the economy overall. By making the entry into the market with a product built on these tools they are widening the market and allowing niches that wouldn't have otherwise been profitable to become so. They are providing jobs and making profits (again not a particularly good adherence to the teachings of Marx).

There will be winners and losers as there always is when there is a paradigm shift, but, to try and associate Open Source with a political movement (in order to somehow "prove" its flawed) is muddying the waters of the argument.

A.

Posted by: rafe01   Posted on: 04/01/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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