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Re: [ossig] FOSS meet.



i have found that there are situations for free software and open source
software. after all there are a variety of oss licenses.

free software suits the free open community development model - where
there are minimal restrictions on use, modify and distribute (e.g. oo.o,
mozilla, linux). 

there are also open source projects which are developed by a company or
select group of people. open source then becomes a business development
/ marketing choice (e.g. the open source ingress database by computer
associates).

these are just 2 very general classifications.

a google for 'open source economic model' provides some really good
articles. in addition to the cathedral and bazaar view.


Raja Iskandar Shah
http://riscniaga.netfirms.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Seah Hong Yee <hongyee@polyscientific.com.my>
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 2:53 pm
Subject: Re: [ossig] FOSS meet.

> 
> Seriously though,  I have another perspective on this. 
> 
>    I initially thought it really doesn't matter Free, OpenSource, 
> it is all the 
> same.  However, in recent years I tend to like the Free Software 
> (like 
> Stallman put it) idea even more so than Opensource.
> 
>    While opensource does attract attention of suits, it create 
> yet another sets 
> of problems. I am sure a number of you run into various vendors 
> and people 
> who claim they are open source but have no idea what they are 
> talking about. 
> Worse, some can only be called leaches that do nothing except 
> profiting from 
> opensource. 
> 
>    Years ago there was a discussion on Gnue mailing list on 
> rationale of using 
> combine free and non-free software as development tools and part 
> of the 
> architecture.  I initially thought nothing of it. However, if you 
> think about 
> the situation more carefully. It does present a problem.  e.g. if 
> you use 
> oracle as your database in your application and you want to run 
> debian, or 
> any other distro of your choice, you are likely to run into 
> problem and when 
> you call oracle support, it is likely they will  tell you they 
> only support 
> Redhat and SuSe and nothing else.  In contrast if you are runnig 
> postgres or 
> MaxDB, it has more likelihood of being ported and tested to the 
> distro of 
> your liking rather than not. Furthermore, combining open source 
> and non-open 
> source as a solution usually lead to problem of what you can do 
> with your 
> software.  You are less likely to have the freedom of choosing 
> solution of 
> your choice. Open source philosophy doesn't seems to address this. 
> 
> Just my two cents. 
>    
> 
> On Tuesday 26 October 2004 09:57, Yoon Kit Yong wrote:
> > I initially couldnt believe it when he didnt want to sign it.
> > After all its because of RevOS, that I found out
> > about the different philosophies of OpenSource and
> > FreeSoftware. The detailed interviews between
> > Eric Raymond, Bruce Perens, Linus and Stallman
> > were very well balanced and projected everyone in good light.
> >
> > I guess the embarrassing part would be the
> > Han Solo award for the Rebel Alliance presentation,
> > and that could be quite annoying to him.
> > The other factor would also be because it concentrates
> > on OpenSource as a driving force to this revolution,
> > and most interviewees do not say "GNU - slash - Linux"
> >
> > Otherwise if he could tolerate the constant mix ups
> > e.g. the first speaker from UNDP during that day
> > between GNU / OSS and Linux, I dont see why
> > he can overlook things like that.
> >
> > I guess he is just darn anal,
> > sticking to his principles yet again,
> > and perhaps its also how he is ideal to
> > come up with the FSM and be its champion.
> > I respect that.
> >
> > Hope you guys will have fun viewing that documentary.
> >
> >
> > Yoon Kit.
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------
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> > with "unsubscribe ossig" in the body of the message
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
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> with "unsubscribe ossig" in the body of the message
> 
> 
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