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I fully agree with most points made. But there are some caveats: - there are quite a lot of commercial software packages around, which depend on constant paid

by _ph_ 10y ago

I fully agree with most points made. But there are some caveats: - there are quite a lot of commercial software packages around, which depend on constant paid programmers work to keep up to date. Without a guaranteed revenue stream, those would not exist. - if people are free to modify all software, liability questions can arise. I am mostly thinking about any kind of firmware, like the one controlling cars or any other software which has the potential to create expensive if not disastrous accidents when malfunctioning. There is some work needing to be done addressing those issues before we can have a completely free-software world (which I would like to have).

stevepurkiss 10y ago
Your caveats are age-old FUD! Many people are paid to work on Free Software, companies like RedHat re Linux and Acquia re Drupal are two examples. If by releasing your code suddenly means a whole bunch of people suddenly spring up and start maintaining it that's fantastic as it means your maintenance costs have disappeared and your users will be free and better off. If you can't find anything else for your staff to do of value, then your business deserves not to exist and you should set your workforce free to do something of value. As for the firmware argument, you are mixing free code and security. Proprietary software is far worse for this, examples include pacemakers which don't cope for pregnant women but can't be reprogrammed, and of course the recent Volkswagen incident. You should be able to see the code which runs anything - especially cars which have to make life and death decisions, and security can be provided by comparing checksums during installation and use. If you really would like to have a completely free software world then please learn more about it and stop the FUD spreading ;)
- _ph_ 10y ago
  Sorry, my arguments were not meant as FUD, but as challenges to be solved. I like the idea of every piece of software being free, but those points need a solution to make that work. I am of course aware of Red Hat and its business model. It mostly works, because there needs to be a "standard" distribution for commercial Linux platforms. But there is expensive software sold to corporations where the open source model just wouldn't work. Software, which costs tens of thousands per seat, where there is almost one developer per user. This eco system would break apart. And for the second point, you misunderstood me. I would be very happy if every firmware would be open source, so everyone can see how the device works. But whether it is ok, that every user is free to change the installed software is a different question. If you brick your TV changing the firmware, that is up to the user. But safety-relevant software is another thing. At minimum, liability is affected, but for example for cars, they might need to be recertified before they can be used on public roads again.

by _ph_ 10y ago

stevepurkiss 10y ago

Your caveats are age-old FUD! Many people are paid to work on Free Software, companies like RedHat re Linux and Acquia re Drupal are two examples. If by releasing your code suddenly means a whole bunch of people suddenly spring up and start maintaining it that's fantastic as it means your maintenance costs have disappeared and your users will be free and better off. If you can't find anything else for your staff to do of value, then your business deserves not to exist and you should set your workforce free to do something of value. As for the firmware argument, you are mixing free code and security. Proprietary software is far worse for this, examples include pacemakers which don't cope for pregnant women but can't be reprogrammed, and of course the recent Volkswagen incident. You should be able to see the code which runs anything - especially cars which have to make life and death decisions, and security can be provided by comparing checksums during installation and use. If you really would like to have a completely free software world then please learn more about it and stop the FUD spreading ;)

_ph_ 10y ago
Sorry, my arguments were not meant as FUD, but as challenges to be solved. I like the idea of every piece of software being free, but those points need a solution to make that work. I am of course aware of Red Hat and its business model. It mostly works, because there needs to be a "standard" distribution for commercial Linux platforms. But there is expensive software sold to corporations where the open source model just wouldn't work. Software, which costs tens of thousands per seat, where there is almost one developer per user. This eco system would break apart. And for the second point, you misunderstood me. I would be very happy if every firmware would be open source, so everyone can see how the device works. But whether it is ok, that every user is free to change the installed software is a different question. If you brick your TV changing the firmware, that is up to the user. But safety-relevant software is another thing. At minimum, liability is affected, but for example for cars, they might need to be recertified before they can be used on public roads again.