Date: 02 Feb 2001 17:25:36 +0100 From: Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@ofug.org> To: j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: quote about open source Message-ID: <xzp7l39hx1b.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> In-Reply-To: j mckitrick's message of "Fri, 2 Feb 2001 14:05:05 %2B0000" References: <20010202140505.B91552@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> writes: > I just read this remark by BEA Systems founder and former Sun VP William > Coleman III: > > `The second problem is, and this is my most controversial remark, open > source is the end of innovation and it's the end of innovation because > open source can't happen until it's so broadly understood what's going > on that the innovation has slowed down to incrementalism.'' > > This is the first comment of this type I have ever heard. Any thoughts? William Coleman III has a legal obligation to fight open source, since it is highly detrimental to the company's bottom line and hence to the dividends paid to its shareholders (this wouldn't be a problem if they didn't have such an idiotic software licensing policy, but I guess they're not ready to face *that* fact). If he can't do this by coopting the open source community (does anyone really believe Sun's community license bears any similarity to a real open source license?), he'll do it by slamming it. The concept of innovation is almost sacred in the US, so if he can make it appear that open source stifles innovation, it'll pretty much be branded as an "unamerican activity" (yes, I know there is no longer a House of Unamerican Activities, but the concept lives on in people's minds) and people will start equating it with communism (of course, Richard Stallman's attitude doesn't help - does he realise that he's his own worst enemy?) and satanism and god knows what, and pretty soon you'll see kids getting suspended from school for participating in open-source projects just like they're now getting suspended for wearing black clothes, listening to Nine Inch Nails or Rammstein, or playing Quake. The fact that innovation cannot happen without open exchange of ideas, of course, is totally irrelevant to this discussion. DES -- Dag-Erling Smorgrav - des@ofug.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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