[ Thanks to S.Ramaswamy for this link.
]
“Just to ensure that everyone who flames me from the big players
gets it right, let me say it again 😉 : Any piece of software
that isn’t at least grounded in open source, if not completely open
source, is hypocritical, and contrary to promoting better software
development. There it is. I believe this with every bit of my
being, so much so that I’ve staked my career and well being by
joining a startup company (Lutris Technologies) that completely
depends on open source software to survive, and vis-à-vis,
to pay me. But where did this volatile statement come from? How did
I get from admitting that we all beg, borrow, and steal for
advancement to this grandiose conclusion? Well, it’s not such a
leap.”
“So how is it, that at some point, a company feels that they
have the right to take all this code, this masterpiece that has
been created by hundreds of people over time, and slap a label on
it, and swirl their skirts around it, and claim ownership? Because
they pay the guy whose name is on the “author” tag in the
Javadoc?”
“But I actually said “hypocritical,” right? Maybe it makes sense
to open up code, but are these companies being hypocritical? Sure
they are! Remember how outraged we all were (even the big
companies) at Amazon for patenting… well… cookies? It
seemed so silly to everyone… But because you don’t really want to
deal with the stress and difficulty of understanding open source,
you decide that you don’t want that sort of “sharing” to go on, and
next thing you know, that engineer can’t write an e-mail without it
being protected by the company’s proprietary interests. It is
taking advantage of the system, and giving nothing back. And it’s
why, ultimately, you are here, at Enhydra, instead of one of the
big boys (you know, all those guys who just need acronyms for
names…).”