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IT Giants Accused of Exploiting Open Source

Posted by Zonk on from the do-your-own-work dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A top European Commission official has accused major IT players such as IBM, HP and Sun of using the open source community as mere subcontractors rather than encouraging them to develop independent commercial products. Jesús Villasante, head of software technologies at the commission, said: 'The open source community today [is a] subcontractor of American multinationals. Open source communities need to take themselves seriously and realise they have contribution to themselves and society. From the moment they realise they are part of the evolution of society and try to influence it, we will be moving in the right direction.'"

9 of 511 comments (clear)

  1. The Inverse by Adrilla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But aren't they also helping Open Source by increasing it's popularity? They are huge companies that carry a lot of weight, and they can get people to adopt it who wouldn't have thought to before. Which can bring in more developers through increased recognition of the movement.

    --

    "Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
    1. Re:The Inverse by ajs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Absolutely! Open source software is not about social change or politics or multinationals or even business. It's about scratching an itch and sharing the result. Huge companies like IBM or 15 year-old kids in Mexico can both do this, and have the same access to the tools of the trade. It's the ultimate fair playing field, and everyone gets something good out of it.

    2. Re:The Inverse by zerocool^ · · Score: 4, Insightful


      Open source is the ultimate communist and ultimate capitalist tool.

      On the one hand, successful open source development relies on the nature of man to contribute to a work without expecting a return - doing it just for the good of the community.

      On the other hand, the GPL/LGPL/etc make it plain that, while you can sell open source software, you must also make available the source code, and anyone who purchases it now has the same rights as you do, and can give it away.

      Communism: The community helping the community, for the sake of the community. Capitalism: The perpetual search for the cheapest solution.

      --
      sig?
  2. Hmph by Toby+The+Economist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think someone is taking himself - and open source - too seriously.

    People write code because they enjoy it.

    99.9% of the time what they do has no meaningful impact on 99.9% of existance.

    People who write code because they think they're going to change the world never do.

    --
    Toby

  3. Everyone for themself by Mattygfunk1 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Bullshit. Nobody is using anybody, and everybody is using everybody.

    Everyone who contributes to open source has their own adjenda. Private individual programmers may just love using the community software, business may just love the low price tag. Who can complain when everyone (open) wins?

    __
    Laugh Daily funny free videos

  4. The hand that feeds them by HaydnH · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The open source community today [is a] subcontractor of American multinationals."

    To be fair, although the multinationals do have a lot to thank the OSS community for, I think the OSS community has a lot to thank the multinationals for in return. Take Open Office, where would that project be without Sun buying StarDivision in 1999 and open sourcing StarOffice 5.2 in 2000?

    Personally I feel that the current relationship is symbiotic and works well. Sure in the future the OSS community should probably become less reliant on the multinationals, as long as they don't bite the hand that's fed them.

    --
    Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
  5. Bah to your 'Hmph' by wurp · · Score: 5, Insightful
    People who write code because they think they're going to change the world never do.

    Richard Stallman might disagree with you.

    1. Re:Bah to your 'Hmph' by Peaker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Many would agree that Richard Stallman, with his GNU manifest, has in fact initiated the Free Software movement, that later also yielded the opensource movement. He has also inspired Linus to make Linux free, if you note the fact Linus has used Richard's GPL license on Linux.

      In other words, without Richard, we'd be stuck in the 80's or early 90's where all software is commercial crap, shareware crap, and all of the power over computer users would belong to big companies - forever locking them in and controlling their computer usage.

      I'd say he changed the world more than say, a random prime minister of some country did.

  6. oh dear... by ladget · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The European Commissions worries about the Open Source Community? Stop software patents and we are fine!