Linux desktop domination "just a matter of time" (DesktopLinux)

Linux desktop domination "just a matter of time" (DesktopLinux)

Posted Nov 22, 2006 23:46 UTC (Wed) by rqosa (guest, #24136)
In reply to: Linux desktop domination "just a matter of time" (DesktopLinux) by nlucas
Parent article: Linux desktop domination "just a matter of time" (DesktopLinux)

> > > until ONE open source project gains that kind of "share" replacing a non open source application

> > What about BitTorrent?

> And what proprietary/non-open source application is it replacing?

Do you mean that there is no proprietary application which competes with BitTorrent? If so, that would mean that the "share" of BitTorrent is 100%.

However, there are several proprietary applications that do the same things as BitTorrent. For example, there are proprietary implementations of the BitTorrent protocol (for a list of them, see here), and there are programs using different protocols that do (some of) the same things, such as Kazaa.

Also, I mentioned BitTorrent as an example of a "desktop" application (since that's what the original article is about), but on the server side, there are many examples, e.g. Apache, PostgreSQL, PHP, Sendmail, BIND, OpenSSH, etc.

> The problem with proprietary applications is the commercial vertent (where money talks more than users).

No it isn't. The problem with proprietary applications is that users don't have these four freedoms. There are non-commercial proprietary applications, such as Pine and lha; are you saying that there is no reason to use free applications instead of these?

> An open source project with the same mindset has exactly the same disadvantages

It may have some of the same disadvantages, but not the most important one.

> (until there is a fork, which can be difficult in certain areas where patents and NDA's are involved).

Patents are a problem for all free applications, regardless of whether or not they are "commercial" ones.

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