Michael Moore
Fri, 25 Mar 2005 09:45:15 -0800
> > I think that Open source software definitely has it's place. But I > > also think that commercial software (be it libre or non-libre) has it's > > place as well. If I had a killer app that had the potential to make me > > a lot of money, I have to say that I would probably sell it, and I > > wouldn't be handing out my source code to every Tom, Dick, and Harry. > > And that's your right. > > But let me ask you this: Do you feel sorry for blacksmiths? The > industrial revolution basically ended their profession. The only > blacksmiths today are artists or highly skilled workers serving a tiny > niche. > > Proprietary programmers are the blacksmiths of today. It will take > decades to play out, but I seismic shift is underway. I don't think those two things are the same. Blacksmiths were making a living out of working with metal, and could have changed over to the new system, and still made their living working with metal. Blacksmiths were not asked to suddenly start giving away their products, or allow others to profit directly from their work. There are some OSS developers that will make a profit from their software. I don't believe it will be as many as if they were to sell their software though. In most cases having OSS software means it's free to the end user. Michael -------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list