"Is open source still a grassroots social movement made up of idealistic underdogs trying to revolutionize an amoral industry? Or has it become a cloak used by IT vendors large and small to disguise ruthless and self-serving behavior? Some observers argue it's the latter. Despite occasional protests from old-timers - the heated backlash against the Microsoft-Novell détente, for example - open source has become so co-opted by mainstream IT, so transformed by 'accidental open sourcers' simply looking for a better business model, that it's lost its cherished moral edge."
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Member since:2005-10-02
Numbers?
Take a look at the number of major IT-companies in USA and major IT-companies in Europe.
Take a look at the number of small IT-companies in USA and compare with the ditto number in Europe.
Take a look at the companies resisting software patents in Europe. They are all small seen from a global POV.
Pretty much every little town (and big) in Denmark have several IT-companies with 5-10 employees. Big companies are however a rarity in Denmark. But we have many small. Usually concentrated around OSS-solutions. And they make money.
Do you have any evidence for your claim about FLOSS killing small companies, or is it just your believe?
US is the developers. We all contribute and we all gain. Why should I pay the other developers with money when I can pay them with my work? And why should they pay me with money when they can pay me with work? We help eachother instead keeping the average costs down, so we all stay competitive. Of course, those that will not contribute cannot stay competitive - too bad for them. Adapt or die.
A non-certified doctor is a very different beast (sorry for the wording) than a developer with a University grade in Computer Science. I don't understand your comparison, since the Health sector is very different from most other sectors.
Why not compare developers with people who sell sausages or those that sell train tickets? Why compare Developers with Doctors? Very weird.
So I could have a chance of getting $5 million from VC and starting my own company and being independant or taking a $100K/year job with IBM and find that you have less and less control on your own product. NO THANKS!
So you don't want to work for yourself and you don't want to work for somebody else. Sounds to me you don't want to work at all 
Member since:2006-01-11
Pretty much every little town (and big) in Denmark have several IT-companies with 5-10 employees. Big companies are however a rarity in Denmark. But we have many small. Usually concentrated around OSS-solutions. And they make money.
yet none of them are big enough to be a blip on any Open Source rader. Howcome all the major open source companies are here in the USA?. Majority of the 5-10 man shops are Windows consultants.
Do you have any evidence for your claim about FLOSS killing small companies, or is it just your believe?
Talk to any number of shareware developers - they are hurting for money. If you want to go to the 5-10 man company size, talk to Codeweavers or theKompany.com - how come all these guys are so busy churning out products for the mac instead of Linux?. Because they have to compete with free versions - and you cannot compete with FREE.
So I could have a chance of getting $5 million from VC and starting my own company and being independant or taking a $100K/year job with IBM and find that you have less and less control on your own product. NO THANKS!
So you don't want to work for yourself and you don't want to work for somebody else. Sounds to me you don't want to work at all
So tell me where in the statement did I say I don't want to work at all?. I want to work be successful and employ more people - something that VC money can give me.
Member since:
2006-01-11
False again.
Europe which has no software patents is the home of most small companies. FLOSS + No Software Patents means increased number of Software-only companies and results in increased number of CS undergrads.
You got numbers to back that claim?
Of course many of the big companies are happy about FLOSS. They get a cheap working force. But so do the rest of us.
Who is US?. If you are a user of FLOSS, you also have a n interest in maintaing that status quo because otherwise you'd have to shell out hard money for software.
The problem is that you don't grasp the market. And your hypothese is funny.
The problem is that developers are dooming themselves. In NO other industry are the providers of goods and services digging their own grave. Look at Medicine, doctors and drug companies are fighting very hard to keep non certified doctors and drug cloners (or generics) out. Every other profession takes pain to lock out free loaders and there people who offer free goods and services but it's always "charity" - Microsoft does a lot of charity too!
If you really created a fantastic amazing application you could easily sell it - and sell support too. It just might make your into a employer before you know of it. Or Microsoft, Novell, IBM or Redhat would hire you right on the spot.
So I could have a chance of getting $5 million from VC and starting my own company and being independant or taking a $100K/year job with IBM and find that you have less and less control on your own product. NO THANKS!