Linux.com

No Difference

Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 08, 2004 04:24 PM
Any system is susceptible to abuse and/or to corruption. Thus, the integrity of any system depends on the honour and the integrity of the people, especially leaders or powerful people.

The author neglects to show the negatives of Open Source, or the "gift economy"; hence, this article is just another bias for one system over another.

Licensing changes, for example, are problematic. The "gift" is still Open Source by definition, but there are more restrictions or more barriers. Project forks are legal in cases of license changes, but who has the resources/contributors to continue with full development?

Large proprietary software corporations are afraid of the GPL and its variants, not the BSD. Large corporations have significantly fewer people contributing? Compared to Open Source? Let's suppose the author is right, how many Open Source contributors work on their projects full-time and how many work in their spare-time, instead of part-time?

How many people working on Open Source projects receive their dues in prestige and status? The article mentions only leaders of notable projects.

The "gift economy" wouldn't work so well without donations from generous people who work for the "exchange economy". Open Source is good, but it's best to have balance, and people with integrity.

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