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Open Source And The Obligation To Recycle
Lisa writes "Tim O'Reilly has a piece called "Open Source and the Obligation to Recycle" in his weblog, where he urges every company whose products are "obsolete" to consider making them available under an open source license, or putting them in the public domain, thereby enriching the soil of our collective commons. (Interestingly, the first posting on the weblog disagrees, saying "...Giving away the software of failed companies could turn every corporate failure into a disaster for everyone else.)""
I was half expecting him to mention Eazel and Nautilus as a perfect example of what he's talking about, but I guess he missed that. Heh.
I feel his pain, there are some really old programs that I would love to play around with now. Anyone remember Geos? I used to run it on my 286 and was years ahead of its time....
Yea, that's all we need... a bunch of Windows 3.1 clones! Maybe Attack of the Clones isn't so far-fetched anyhow?
Read the article -- if the company that fails fails through reasons unrelated to software quality, it will have a huge detriment to companies that provide a similar product, even if the remaining company had a slightly superior product.
ie: If Microsoft were to cut loose SQL server, and published the full and complete source code under a completely free and open license (Quit laughing! It's just an example!) would Oracle maintain their current sales volume?
Not likely.
Man, This guy's gotta be old! I thought 8" floppies were as big as they got... But FIVE AND A QUARTER FEET! Holy Cow! ;-)
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
Hmm, might not be such a bad idea after all, I mean, what better way to leave a market than take out all your competitors ? ... )
(If it even works that way