The title is trollish [LWN.net]

The title is trollish

Posted Oct 23, 2004 12:34 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091)
In reply to: Why open source is unsustainable (Financial Times) by sepreece
Parent article: Why open source is unsustainable (Financial Times)

I think that comments are rather responding to the inflammatory, trollish title. Is it justified in the text of the article that "open source is unsustainable"? The author just points out some contradictions that he was not able to untangle by himself.

The first part is an amateurish analysis of the GPL; stating, as has been pointed out above, that "compulsory licensing" is the only solution to GPL infringement. This paragraph is specially funny:

Suppose, for example, that A uses some open source code in his program, which is in turn used by B. If B has no knowledge of how A cobbled together his program, then the GPL may be read not to apply at all.

So licenses only apply when you are aware of them? Can I redistribute my mp3 collection because "I have no knowledge of how it was cobbled together"? Please. If the GPL does not apply, you cannot distribute your software because you have no license from the owner.

The next part makes a very shallow analysis of developer motivations, mistaking "communities" for "communes" and presuming that the open source movement shares common ideals. It has been pointed out before that "open source is agnostic"; people with different ideals, political views and opinions work together for a common goal.

The final paragraph forgets that government procurement procedures can (and should) require certain conditions, even if that leaves out some providers. When a bridge is being built the responsible agency usually requests the blueprints; otherwise it might be forced to contract all maintenance to the builders. Similarly, when an operating system is being installed in a public administration, it sounds reasonable to request complete source code and toolchain so that service and support can be provided by a third party (even if redistribution is prohibited). Free software just provides a natural solution to this problem.

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