2010-09-06T04:48:34-07:00 http://www.openpost.net/ Lussumo Vanilla & Feed Publisher http://www.openpost.net/discussion/775/?Focus=5875#Comment_5875 2005-11-22T10:47:29-07:00 1969-12-31T17:00:00-07:00 takai http://www.openpost.net/account/4/

This month, SAP's Shai Agassi referred to open-source software as "intellectual property socialism." In January, Bill Gates suggested that free-software developers are communists. A few ...

The philosophy behind open-source software is simple. Instead of protecting source code — it encourages programmers to tear apart the code and build it back up again. The theory is that this collaborative process encourages innovation and decreases bugs by increasing the number of people with a stake in the project.

That anyone with an Internet connection can pop open the hood doesn't mean companies that use open-source programming can't make money. Red Hat does. So do Sleepycat, Sun, and many others. Ballmer and company don't object to open source because they think it's an economic loser. They can't stomach the fact that the enterprising creator has no more control over his code than any other Joe. Not only can more than one company rake in the dough, the other guys can alter your product any way they see fit, as long as they share these upgrades with everyone else. That's where the socialism title comes in.

So, is open-source communism?]]> http://www.openpost.net/discussion/775/?Focus=5934#Comment_5934 2005-12-10T15:17:21-07:00 1969-12-31T17:00:00-07:00 iem http://www.openpost.net/account/30/

Who cares? It'd be better if it were socialist or communist, because socialism is a [i:df9f055007]good thing[/i:df9f055007] but that's for another thread.

It'd be better if it were socialist or communist, because socialism is a good thing[/i:df9f055007] but that's for another thread.]]>