Linked by David Adams on Tue 28th Oct 2008 16:14 UTC, submitted by M-Saunders
Free Software/open source often gets a bad rap for innovating. It just rips-off the work of commercial developers, right? Not so, as this Linux Format piece argues. FLOSS has pioneered, or been a catalyst in, some notable changes in the computing world. Several of these innovations are OS-related.
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Member since:
2005-07-08
Yes, technically, and there still are many closed networks too besides of the huge and open Internet. But it would simply not be a working idea to base a global open network like the Internet on proprietary and closed source technology and semi-"standards" owned by some companies.
This article provides some perspective on the meaning of Linux (a free, open and stable server platform) for the birth of Internet (as we know it today):
Would The Internet Exist Without Linux?
http://www.pcmech.com/article/would-the-internet-exist-without-linu...
Many basic network technologies used by everyone have also originated in the open source BSD world.
However, proprietary, closed source, maybe patented network and web technologies like Flash still remain highly controversial, they may be expensive to use, many oppose them, and such proprietary technologies usually have many competitors too (in the case of Flash: MS Silverlight, Java-based equivalents etc.), making it very problematic to base a global open network / web on such things.
Edited 2008-10-29 18:11 UTC