One of the challenges with the "everything should be free" viewpoint is that there are so many things that are expensive to design and/or build. All of the specs for OGD1 are available under GPL. Can you get one? Well, there may be a few left you can get.
Being "Free" doesn't mean anything if (a) there's no incentive to design it in the first place or (b) you can read all about it, but you can't actually get one. Besides OGD1, another example I like to point out is the lack of Free logic synthesis software, competing with the likes of Mentor Graphics, Cadence, and Synopsys. The main reason it doesn't exist is that the skills required are very specialized, and none of the people with the skills are interested in volunteering to write a free version. We could GET a free version if we hired these people and paid them to code it, but where would we get that money? The usual route is to recoup the investment by making the software proprietary and/or patenting some of the technology. A socialized alternative like Kickstarter wouldn't work because too few people would be interested in the product, so it would never get funded. There's a good reason why a Synopsys seat costs somewhere around $200K. BTW, if you have no idea what goes into logic synthesis software, don't bother arguing with me. For one thing, the problem is NP-hard. That alone make is extremely difficult. I think Free Software is very important, a cornerstone of modern society and technology. It would be terrible if we didn't have that. Generalizing a bit, I personally would prefer if scholarly work wasn't behind paywalls, so that everyone could have easy access to research, although if that were the case, I'd find myself having to pay a huge fee every time I published a paper, which would limit the PRODUCTION of research. What's better? In any case, although I firmly believe in the goodness of Free Software, I am baffled by the people who seem to insist on adopting an extreme and inflexible viewpoint, absolutely refusing to use a single braincell to grasp the functioning and benefits of alternative systems. I had a long email exchange with Richard Stallman that ended in him throwing up his hands (so to speak) when we reached an impasse on how to get Free logic synthesis software developed; neither of us could come up with a viable solution. Even Stallman will admit that Free Software doesn't solve every problem, ESPECIALLY when it's hardware-related. On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Gregory Carter <[email protected]> wrote: > On 12/05/2012 02:22 AM, Dieter BSD wrote: > >> Gregory writes: >> >>> I consider LINUX to be the state of the art reference for _ALL_ >>> engineering >>> >> HA HA HA Good one! You had me going there, for a minute I thought >> you were serious! >> >> >> Really? > > Look guy, we either provide open access to _all_ science and technology at > the lowest possible denominator to every human being on the planet or this > little Darwinian experiment called the human species is going to come to a > quick and very unceremonious end. > > I can assure you I am not joking. > > The rules and the way for effective competition and fair trade is laid out > in how every piece of science and technology that is either enabled with > LINUX or how it was designed 10 years ago to how it is being designed RIGHT > NOW. > > Every social form currently in existence should be redesigned around the > engineering direction and properties that are enforced using the GNU > Version 2 license. Equal opportunity for all, no barriers to participation > and excellence based on peer review and feed back is the only technology > allowed to live, because technology only has one purpose. > > To serve the human race. > > Right now technology is being used to destroy, crush and create war for a > bunch of damn greedy western institutions. > > This will change, or WE, and I mean ALL OF YOU will not have a life living > or otherwise. > > -gc > > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > Open-graphics mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.duskglow.com/**mailman/listinfo/open-graphics<http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics> > List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com) > -- Timothy Normand Miller, PhD Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Binghamton University http://www.cs.binghamton.edu/~millerti/<http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~millerti> Open Graphics Project
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