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> Capitalism has delivered a free one that is arguably very, very good. Linux, if that's not obvious :-) Who could have predicted that? Linus was at a free pub
by zepto 5y ago
> Capitalism has delivered a free one that is arguably very, very good. Linux, if that's not obvious :-) Who could have predicted that?
Linus was at a free public university with free healthcare and the state supporting his living expenses when he created Linux. About as far from capitalism as you can get.
> Capitalism also produced very high quality software that goes with it, for free.
I like capitalism and defend it often, however I think that investment matters, regardless of whether it comes from the state or private sources.
> It's possible we would have had something better than the internet protocol.
Yes, or it’s possible we’d have a closed system run by a giant company.
- WalterBright 5y ago> Linus was at a free public university with free healthcare and the state supporting his living expenses when he created Linux. About as far from capitalism as you can get. That's a pretty hard stretch there. The university did not finance Linux, it financed his education. Linus could just as well have partied instead. Free healthcare is nice, but for the vast majority of 20 year olds, very little healthcare is needed.
- zepto 5y ago> The university did not finance Linux, A strawman which nobody has claimed. > it financed his education. It financed whatever he wanted to do as part of his education. > Linus could just as well have partied instead. As you must surely agree, having made this statement. > Free healthcare is nice, but for the vast majority of 20 year olds, very little healthcare is needed. Sure, ignore the part where they paid his living expenses. The point is that Linus was financed by the state, and Linux was obviously not an entrepreneurial project. Claiming it is somehow a triumph of ‘capitalism’ is spurious at best. iOS is a triumph of capitalism. For what it’s worth, I think both iOS and Linux are good things in the world. I just don’t see how Linux is evidence of anything capitalistic.