People who slam RMS for being uncompromising about the importance of software freedom should keep in mind incidents like this. I'd really love to live in a world where we don't have lawyers breathing down our necks because we modify software and discuss and share our modifications.
While it is very fun to engage in Tim Allen-esque computer hot-rodding projects like liquid cooling and all, maybe we should instead focus on making CPU's that don't run so stinkin hot and use so much electricity.
Re:Support is the usual reason given ...
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Opposing Open Source?
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· Score: 2, Informative
Yes, if Windows breaks, you're at Microsoft's mercy to fix it too, but many companies feel a lot more comfortable relying on a big company than on a few guys who program for fun.
I just want to be careful here and point out that this common perception is in fact a misperception.
Look at some of the most important opensource projects out there - GNU/Linux, Apache, Samba, Sendmail, Mozilla/Netscape, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Star Office - these aren't projects that a mere few hackers tinker with in their spare time. One way or another, they're pretty much all supported with corporate dollars. And they all have a rich market of support available - support you can purchase from reputible companies (RedHat, for instance).
FUD is the only fuel that keeps this misperception alive.
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People who slam RMS for being uncompromising about the importance of software freedom should keep in mind incidents like this. I'd really love to live in a world where we don't have lawyers breathing down our necks because we modify software and discuss and share our modifications.
While it is very fun to engage in Tim Allen-esque computer hot-rodding projects like liquid cooling and all, maybe we should instead focus on making CPU's that don't run so stinkin hot and use so much electricity.
Yes, if Windows breaks, you're at Microsoft's mercy to fix it too, but many companies feel a lot more comfortable relying on a big company than on a few guys who program for fun.
I just want to be careful here and point out that this common perception is in fact a misperception.
Look at some of the most important opensource projects out there - GNU/Linux, Apache, Samba, Sendmail, Mozilla/Netscape, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Star Office - these aren't projects that a mere few hackers tinker with in their spare time. One way or another, they're pretty much all supported with corporate dollars. And they all have a rich market of support available - support you can purchase from reputible companies (RedHat, for instance).
FUD is the only fuel that keeps this misperception alive.