5 ms·

A gentle reminder that all the big techs companies would not exist without open source projects

by vmaurin 7mo ago

kccqzy 7mo ago
Would Microsoft not exist without open source project? Microsoft is that company founded in 1975, but the GPL license only appeared in 1989, and BSD licenses appearing at roughly the same time just because of the Unix Wars. Big tech companies can easily hire manpower to make proprietary versions of software, or just pay licensing fees for other proprietary software. They don’t rely on open source. Microsoft bought 86-DOS to produce MS-DOS; Microsoft paid the Unix license to produce Xenix; and when Microsoft hired former DEC people to make NT, it later paid DEC. Instead, modern startups wouldn’t exist without open source.
- golfer 7mo ago
  Indeed, open source exists despite Microsoft trying its hardest to kill it. Microsoft was (and still is) a ruthless, savage competitor. Their image has softened as of late but I'll never forget the BS they did under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
  - deleted 7mo ago
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- deleted 7mo ago
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- ok123456 7mo ago
  Microsoft wouldn't exist without the theft of CPU time on time-shared computers.
cedws 7mo ago
I think they would due to massive financial incentive. On the other hand, a lot more developers might actually be getting compensated for their work, instead of putting their code on the internet for free and then complaining on social media that they feel exploited.
dirasieb 7mo ago
it's the exact opposite but alright, take a look at who's behind funding and sending code to the linux kernel if you want an example
- OKRainbowKid 7mo ago
  The exact opposite? Can you elaborate?
- rcxdude 7mo ago
  I would more say it's both: this is kind of the idea of open source, at least for the large-scale projects that are permissively licensed.
izacus 7mo ago
And a gentle reminder that most of open source you use was developed and is maintained by tech companies. Take a glance and contributor lists for your projects sometime.

A gentle reminder that all the big techs companies would not exist without open source projects

by vmaurin 7mo ago

A gentle reminder that all the big techs companies would not exist without open source projects

Would Microsoft not exist without open source project? Microsoft is that company founded in 1975, but the GPL license only appeared in 1989, and BSD licenses appearing at roughly the same time just because of the Unix Wars. Big tech companies can easily hire manpower to make proprietary versions of software, or just pay licensing fees for other proprietary software. They don’t rely on open source. Microsoft bought 86-DOS to produce MS-DOS; Microsoft paid the Unix license to produce Xenix; and when Microsoft hired former DEC people to make NT, it later paid DEC. Instead, modern startups wouldn’t exist without open source.

golfer 7mo ago
Indeed, open source exists despite Microsoft trying its hardest to kill it. Microsoft was (and still is) a ruthless, savage competitor. Their image has softened as of late but I'll never forget the BS they did under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
ok123456 7mo ago
Microsoft wouldn't exist without the theft of CPU time on time-shared computers.

cedws 7mo ago

I think they would due to massive financial incentive. On the other hand, a lot more developers might actually be getting compensated for their work, instead of putting their code on the internet for free and then complaining on social media that they feel exploited.

dirasieb 7mo ago

it's the exact opposite but alright, take a look at who's behind funding and sending code to the linux kernel if you want an example

OKRainbowKid 7mo ago
The exact opposite? Can you elaborate?
rcxdude 7mo ago
I would more say it's both: this is kind of the idea of open source, at least for the large-scale projects that are permissively licensed.

izacus 7mo ago

And a gentle reminder that most of open source you use was developed and is maintained by tech companies. Take a glance and contributor lists for your projects sometime.