Singapore Linux Conference Call For Papers

Posted Jul 29, 2002 10:21 UTC (Mon) by leonbrooks (guest, #1494) [Link]

If OTOH you mean that it eliminates business as such, or the market for software as such, you've missed the point big time. If competition Open Source cars, fuel, construction, architecture etc were practical, it would be a far better world. People could have more useful items, safer items, harder wearing items rather than prettier, more gizmo-laden shaved-down-to-save-2%-extra items. The dreaded phrase `no user serviceable parts' would be restricted to truly dangerous items.

Open Source, and particularly the GPL, is about making the whole market `pie' bigger, rather than about squabbling with other providers (if any) for a bigger slice of the existing pie. A usual consequence of such squabbling is that the pie is trampled in the rush or atrophies because everyone's too busy competing to spare time for maintaining it.

Open Source puts more power in the hands of the users, less in the hands of the supplying corporations. This changes supply-and-demand, so some suppliers will be hurt and some suppliers will be struggling to keep up with new trade.

Tell me that corporations have too little control of Western law and politics right now, I dare you! Tell me that most corporations are basically altruistic, I dare you! (-:

Little corporations like mine are usually more suited to adapting, riding paradigm updates rather than being buried in them, than big ones are. In the computer arena the big corporations are murdering and engulfing each other anyway, with no benefit to the end user. Better that the end users benefit in the process, better that some power migrate their way, better a clean death at the hands of Open Source than a questionable corporate life as a Borged zombie.

Thanks for the opportunity to let off steam!