> I don't know if I would go as far as saying "in the slightest". BSD > software in particular has been responsible for accelerating the > information revolution. But in general, I have to agree with Josh. You > all know that I'm a strong F/OSS supporter, but lets not get delusions > of granduer. IT is only part of a very large and diverse economy. F/OSS > isn't vital to the economy. Yet.
US became a super-power before computers were even invented. They made cars, airplanes, and even spaceships that are basically on par (not even one order of magnitude faster or fuel-efficient) with what we have today using either a very primitive computer or performing computations by hand. And to put things in perspective - potatoes do not require a computer to grow.
It is clear that while the information technology strengthens certain sectors of the economy a lot, others experience only marginal benefits. Additionally, strengthening individual sectors does not neccessarily add to the overall strength. For example sectors, such as the alcohol and tobacco industry, gambling, adult entertainment, etc, do not need to be strengthened at all - the net result of their existence is a minus.
So after all, as much as we do not like to hear it, the net result of the existence of open source might actually be somewhat close to zero even if it becomes responsible for close to 100% of all the software ever written.
-- Sasha Pachev AskSasha Linux Consulting http://www.asksasha.com
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