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Tocqueville Blames U.S. IT Troubles On Free Software

Posted by timothy on from the let's-play-smash-the-fud dept.

twitter writes "The group that told us closed source was more secure than open source, now tells us that "Open source software, also described as free software, is the neutron bomb of IP" that will destroy 85% of the market value of US companies and drive companies who are currently outsourcing to "draconian measures even worse than outsourcing." So, there you have it, free software is responsible for bad laws, out sourcing and bad hair days." (Remember who funded the same group's report on open source security?)

2 of 642 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory Netcraft check: by sammy+baby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    According to Netcraft, www.adti.net is running FreeBSD.

    Why, oh why, does the Alex de Tocqueville institution hate freedom so?

  2. Re:The american way and open source. by gowen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, its an interesting thought. My own opinion is that Open Source Software is merely a natural reaction to the fact that software is, essentially, outside most economic principles, which are firmly grounded in scarcity.

    Well, excluding Duke Nukem Forever, what little scarcity there is in software is artificially created ("We'll make this stuff expensive, because our coders have got to eat"). If suitably licensed, I can share it around at almost no cost to myself.

    Capitalism says "get hold of something scarce and barter it for other scarce things." Communism says "gather together all the scarce things and try and share them out equally." Diametrically opposed, but both relying on scarcity.

    Linux is immune, because there isn't a limited amount of it to go round.

    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.