ZDNet: Proprietary Drives the Software Economy

Proprietary Drives the Software Economy

"My article on open source analogies resulted in a rather interesting e-mail exchange with Eric Raymond and Richard Stallman...

"Eric recommended that I read 'The Magic Cauldron,' his seminal work on the economics of open source. Though I'd read it before, I did so a long time ago, and certainly not with an eye towards building a response. In truth, this is partly a response and partly a parallel defense of proprietary software that is informed by points made in 'The Magic Cauldron...'"

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Proprietary vs. Open Source

"Raymond proposed that a weakness in proprietary business models is its reliance on future sales. As Raymond states:

"If the vendor's money comes from selling bits, most effort will go to making bits and shoving them out the door; the help desk, not a profit center, will become a dumping ground for the least effective and get only enough resources to avoid actively alienating a critical number of customers..."

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Related Stories:

• Software Development Online: Is Open Source for You?(May 24, 2001)
• Ganesh Prasad: Open Source-onomics: Examining some pseudo-economic arguments about Open Source(Apr 12, 2001)
• Ciol.com (India): Selling in the Bazaar : How Open Source Manages Code(Nov 19, 2000)
• Ciol.com (India): Selling in the Bazaar : The Software Development Process De-Mystified(Nov 17, 2000)