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Pandora's box for open source (News.com)
News.com examines
the increasing acceptance of open-source software by large companies.
"Open source has become something like the invisible hand of the software economy, driving prices down and pinpointing those areas ripe for commodity status. While Microsoft continues to fight it, other companies have no choice but to embrace the technology, even though its long-term profitability remains largely unproven."
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Pandora's box for open source (News.com) Posted Feb 12, 2004 17:51 UTC (Thu) by cpm (subscriber, #3554) [Link] "other companies have no choice but to embrace the technology"Hogwash. Of course there is a choice. This is victim language.
Pandora's box for open source (News.com) Posted Feb 12, 2004 18:05 UTC (Thu) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link] No choice? What a crock! For the vast majority of companies (not in the proprietary software business) software is an EXPENSE. Any way to reduce its cost is a win for them. They pay only for support, so the support is MUCH better (it's the vendors main way of making money). "Open source" is a big win for every business except proprietary software vendors trying to sell commodity software.
Pandora's box for open source (News.com) Posted Feb 13, 2004 6:03 UTC (Fri) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link] > No choice? What a crock! [] "Open source"> is a big win for every business except proprietary > software vendors trying to sell commodity software. .. And that's precisely who the article was talking about when it said they had "no choice".. the currently closed source software suppliers now opening up at least SOME of their products, just as the company headlining the article, Novell, is doing. I, for one, am glad to see Novell on our side, and wish them well, both because I want them to be glad they are taking that open source step, and because I'd hate for them to become the next Corel/SCOG. I must admit, it IS going to be interesting to see how this whole Novell thing ends up. They DO seem to be playing all the right cards in favor of FLOSS right now, and that's a GOOD thing, but so was Corel, which later became SCOG, at one point. Still, Novell's definitely a step up the ladder from where Corel was when it did open source, and it looks like they're making the choice at at a better point in their history and in a better economic climate, so hopefully, both them and IBM stay on our side. I really don't see IBM turning, tho. as ultimately, I think their strategy is to return the computer tech landscape to something they are VERY familiar with, and know VERY well how to operate in, essentially "free" software, but where one pays for the hardware and support services. Don't forget, IBM was once king of the hill in that sort of market, and I believe that with Linux, they see an opportunity to return to it in many ways, taking back the leadership from current software giants such as MS. Thus, libre-ware fits very well with IBM's historic strong points, and I don't see them turning away from it any time soon. Novell, OTOH, remains a bit of an open question, tho I definitely like their current moves RE Linux and IBM v. SCOG. Duncan
Pandora's box for open source (News.com) Posted Feb 13, 2004 12:23 UTC (Fri) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048) [Link] Just my two bits on the topic... > I, for one, am glad to see Novell on our side, and wish them well, both I will join Novell in the coming months, and the impression I have is At least the "core" Ximian mono development team is expanding, and this
Novell and Mono (and Java and Perl..) Posted Feb 22, 2004 14:15 UTC (Sun) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link] You may not see this even if you have comment notifications on unless youhave them on for more than the default week, but anyway.. I'm glad for you going to Novell. Unfortunately, I can't be as enthusiastic as you concerning Mono. I'm of the opinion that MS has it by the tender parts, and if it becomes anywhere near universally popular, MS will squeeze those tender parts, causing a lot of agony to a lot of people that may have come to depend upon it in software libre. I just wish Sun would truly GPL/LGPL Java, perhaps as a dual license. They could do that and STILL make $$. Look at TrollTech and QT. And under that sort of license, MS still couldn't pervert it to its own ends. Until something like that happens, it's perl and friends for portable run-time compiled apps here. Perl6/Parrot shows some interesting promise, and there's already a proven cross-platform infrastructure in place and fairly mature. Duncan
Novell and Mono (and Java and Perl..) Posted Feb 23, 2004 9:12 UTC (Mon) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048) [Link] > You may not see this even if you have comment notifications on unless > you have them on for more than the default week, but anyway.. The same should apply to you at this point... > I'm of the opinion that MS has it by the tender parts, and if it becomes Well, there is more in Mono than "somethings that belongs to MS". > I just wish Sun would truly GPL/LGPL Java, perhaps as a dual license. Yes, I wish it as well, but I'm not holding my breath, either (and I have > Until something like that happens, it's perl and friends for portable Yes, I know about Parrot. Ciao,
Pandora's box for open source (News.com) Posted Feb 12, 2004 18:09 UTC (Thu) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link] Well with Open- Source or without it...*BOXED* software selling is about good as *DEAD*... and Microsoft knows it... The only salvation,*IMHO* be it proprietary or closed source are selling services over the WEB, or close by, regional, with in the terrain men, *technical* support... (very important to small to medium entreprises that account for more than 90% of global IT services clients). The only "boxed software" versions capable of surviving are, tailor made specificly costumazed and tweak for a particular costumer, region, and kind of business... oh, what i'm sying?!!... suggesting that the big M$, inspite of his monopoly on the desktop has to drop profit margins(~85% now), perhaps for less than half of what it is today, and apply that money for costumizing and tweaking their software for particular sectors or costumers in the IT world?!!... HOW ARE THEY GOING TO MAINTAIN THE *HUGE* FINANCIAL PYRAMID (the Ma$ters syndicat) OF THEIRS ??... It could mean that a substancial part of theirs *Billions* in the bank could evaporat much much more quickly than expected, if Microsoft change to adapt... ""All in all Open-Source is much better positioned to the new software selling and services paradigma than Microsoft, and or others proprietary software houses..."" Menwhile M$ is not going to spend wildly, without first trying to lock its users, specialy in the desktop, behind DRM(NGSCB/Paladium) schemes, and at the same time prevent others OSes, specialy linux, running on their protected hardware platforms... That is *WHY* linux to dominate the next IT paradigma "era", needs to gain more desktop oriented development and much more Hardware Support... because the odds are clear(IMO)... if Linux fails to dominate... it surely looks lyke its going to be killed(somehow)... and those that sell hardware where Linux would be possible, and even others proprietary vendors to M$ locked platforms are going to inherit *Billions of wort* in uncared and droped by its rightfull owners, open source software programs...
Pandora's box for open source (News.com) Posted Feb 13, 2004 5:17 UTC (Fri) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] I wrote those guys yesterday, and asked them if they could please stop engaging in inflammatory comments about Free Software, Linux, etc., and start writing about how the Internet is being destroyed by Spammers theough the use of Windows viruses.We have a real problem with technical reporting in the Internet space. I think it's called pandering.
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