From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Wed Jun 20 2001 - 01:19:14 MDT
Francois-Rene Rideau wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jun 19, 2001 at 12:26:09PM +0200, Felix Ungman wrote:
> > The open source movement is driven by hobbyists
> > that like to tinker with software for the fun of it.
> No. It's driven by the fact that proprietary software covers so badly
> the needs of consumers that even hobbyists can make significant improvement.
> Scary, isn't it?
Do you think Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman and such are
"hobbyists"? I have been a professional programmer aka software
engineer aka computer scientist aka hacker for over 20 years. I
have lived, breathed, eaten and dreamed software. It is because
I know it and love it that I love open source.
>
> > What we need is a society where it's possible to make money
> > on intellectual activity.
> Exactly. And IP, aka Information Protectionism,
> is precisely the opposite to valuing _activity_.
> Instead, it values monopolies that consist in _preventing_ activity.
> The legal framework I call for is Freedom. Think about it twice.
>
A society where it is possible to make money on intellectual
activity is not necessarily synonymous with a society where all
products of that activity are directly sources of income or
packaged one particular way. Open Source does not in the least
make it possible to make a good living as a programmer. That
the source is open does not mean that programming skills are in
any less demand or are any less scarce. It does mean that the
business models will need to change. Also, it should be pointed
out that 90% of the software produced is produced for
consumption within an organization rather than for direct sale
as a software product. Much of that software also benefits from
becoming more open (within the boundaries of protecting sensitve
data of course).
- samantha
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