Imagine if Facebook, Twitter, and Google were all free software as soon as they were launched. Would that have killed those companies? or made them stronger as businesses and as tools? I think that's something that should be considered...the next time you start a startup, make the software free and grow from there. If it's disruptive enough as Google, Facebook, Amazon and others are, then it's possible that this will influence other companies to release their source code as well.
This occurs to some extent already. Some developers will release whatever isn't related to the core business as free software with or without their employer's permission. The trouble with that is that while there's an increase in free software, the proprietary software still exists. It feels as if any sort of direct action will fail to work. It seems like the only way to win is to play the game enough to gather enough resources to be able to do your own thing afterward. The trouble is that a lot of software developers forget that the doing your own thing part doesn't have to be an emulation of their former workplace. -Rudolf O.
