Sell the Windows version (if you own the copyright)
Posted Jan 4, 2005 22:25 UTC (Tue) by
sepreece (subscriber, #19270)
In reply to:
Sell the Windows version (if you own the copyright) by brouhaha
Parent article:
Porting free software to Windows
I think this misses a major point. If one of the key arguments for open source software is that the larger community of developers improves the software faster than a single vendor could, then two things seem to fall out:
1) putting open software on Windows, with its much greater number of potential users, will make it get better faster, and
2) putting your otherwise open software on Windows as closed software will make it impossible for that user community to help you improve the software, so it will get better slower
I think the primary goal of a FLOSS project should be whatever the project participants want it to be; for some projects that might be to advance the FLOSS philosophy, for others it might be to advance the software the project builds. Every member of the community may have her own opinion as to whether one or the other is the loftier goal, but I think we should all take pleasure in contributing to making the debate possible.
(
Log in to post comments)