On Saturday 12 January 2002 11:33, Larry Price wrote: > On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, Mark Bigler wrote: > > But, I also want proprietary companies to be able to sustain > > themselves, for a while, in the Linux world. And, for that, I > > think a period where Linux has a common ABI they could deliver to > > would help them to explore the Linux commercial space. > > Good point, though it does bring up an interesting question; how do > we wean proprietary companies away from the idea that they can only > sell software as binary format executables?
I'm hoping that will take care of itself. Assuming that CPUs that only work with "trusted" OSes never dominate (see http://kt.zork.net/kernel-traffic/kt20011231_148.html#1) and that the increased use of libre kernels, etc. leads to more diverse species of hardware (e.g. CPUs) and operating systems, at some point providing code in source form (certainly for device drivers) will be one of the few ways to successfully support computer based products for the widest range of customers. Sadly though, companies often feel that making products that can be supported outside of the company, although an advantage to the customer, is too much of a disadvantage to the company. For example, for companies, a plus to WinXX is its constant "outdating" of the products they make. With each new version of WinXX a company can say that they no longer support an older product and that the customer must buy something new that is supported for the lastest WinXX. Companies need to once again start seeing buyers as customers (someone to help) rather than as consumers (someone to sell to over and over). > It is possible to sell programs as source code and make money at it, > and as the warez market has shown precompiled binaries are not immune > to copying and subversion... > > Fortunately there are many people like myself who would flat out > refuse to put stuff on their computers unless they have at least a > link to the source. On the flip side there are also plenty of people > like myself who use binary package managers and who don't read the > source for most of the software on their computers. And, if companies like theKompany survive using a source available model, even more companies and software developers will feel comfortable following suit. Customers really win when code and hardware can be supported outside the vagaries of the ups and downs of any single business. > Interesting times. Truly.
