[ Thanks to Karen
Shaeffer for this link. ]
Pitched to us as another response to Mr. Mundie, this particular
piece is a little above the fray of the last few days in that it
sets out in a less reactionary manner to define the nature of open
source software. It’s not aimed at Microsoft so much as it
proprietary software vendors in general:
“With respect to entrepreneurs and creative folks in
general, the essence of the redeeming nature of the open source
software phenomenon can be appreciated when one considers the
empowering effect open source software can have in the creative
process. We, as a society, have become fully dependent on our
computers and the software that runs on them. Most innovation
occurring these days is supported and enabled by these computer
technologies. The legacy software business model of the proprietary
software vendor era constrained and taxed the creative process. The
constraints were in fact prohibiting innovation to the extent the
proprietary software constrained the creative endeavors of
corporations and individuals to be bounded by the capability of
that proprietary software’s feature set. Open source software is
just the opposite. Use of open source software invites innovation
and novel extension of the capability and functionality of the
software. In of itself, this is laudable and of great utility, but
the real story here is for groups tasked to develop new ideas and
technology within R&D groups. Within these organizations, open
source software is a substrate for innovation, effectively removing
the artificial constraints that have been the status quo for the
past quarter century.”