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http://www.profy.com

The topic around which the most discussion encircled was open source, and boy were there divergent views among the week’s ensemble. MBW regulars Scott Bourne and Andy Ihnatko took allegiance to cutthroat capitalism, while host Leo Laporte and the reigning jokester Merlin Mann took too trumpeting openness everywhere and hippie love for all.

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Created by mark 14 years 38 weeks ago
Category: Philosophy   Tags:
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boottux

14 years 38 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago

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Here is an example of what I was

Here is an example of what I was talking about on my other post regarding OSI's dealing with Microsoft submissions for licensing. The person says open source can be commercial as well, no disagreement there but he doesn't seem to be aware that "free software" can also be used in commercial activities. This debate is not about paid or free it is about proprietary lock-in which is the formula the computer industry has been using since it started to insure that they can maintain large profit margins from their own customers. Apple is that kind of company and let no one think for a moment that just because they have some unix code underneath that interface that it means anything as far as free software. Richard Stallman went to the heart of this philosophical difference between free and proprietary and created a license where none existed before, a license that promotes and PROTECTS software freedom from the ever present pressure of commercial enterprises to create some form of lock-in so that their customers are forced to maintain a company's profit margins. Anyone with a cell phone contract should understand this. What do you think the cost of your cell phone service would be if you bought your own handset and could choose and switch your carrier anytime you want. For those not old enough to remember, there was a time when you had to buy your dial telephone from Bell Telephone. Anybody remember then how expensive long distance was ?

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