> > You guys are really missing the point..my prediction..within 10 years
all
> > software will be free
> >
> > Reasons
> >
> > 1/ The internet has opened up a huge market and a global pool of
> > programmers..some who work for the love of it
And what are these programmers going to do for a job if all software is
free? Open Source doesn't mean free, it just means open. You have to find
new ways to fund the software. I am starting a *funded* open source project
right now. I will definitly *not* be working for free!
>
> And some who DONT!! How am I supposed to feed kids? Why the hell should
> my work pay me to produce products that cant make money on? The amount
> of free software around to me points to way too much slop and lack of
accountability
> in the US academic circles and frankly cant see that lasting too much
longer.
Open Source is just a methodology. Professional developers like myself will
not suddenly drop in quality just because we change our renumeration scheme.
Open Source will be funded by those organizations that have a common
requirement, and in software that does not represent a competitive
advantage. If the software provides competitive advantage, they will pay to
write it. If the software is only useful to one company, they will pay to
write it. If it is common however, such as OS's, web servers, mail servers,
word processors etc, there is a definite advantage to companies contributing
money to one Open Source project to produce a quality, common product. In
other words, while a healthy, paid OSS community will grow, closed source
will also have a place.
PS : <shameless plug for my project> To see the my Open Source Experiment,
see www.devcentre.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Zealand Delphi Users group - Offtopic List - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: http://www.delphi.org.nz
