4 ms·
Do you actually have the ability to understand exactly what the patch is doing and all of the potential future ramifications? One thing the Open Source guys ju
by drivingmenuts 12y ago
Do you actually have the ability to understand exactly what the patch is doing and all of the potential future ramifications?
One thing the Open Source guys just don't frickin' get is that only a very few people have the time or the energy to fully understand everything that goes into their software. Sure, all the source is available, but if I had time to look at it and digest it, I wouldn't have time to do my real, paying job, nor would anyone else.
Which is why we have commercial software. Open or closed source doesn't matter if you don't have time or the background to deal with it. Open Source comes from an academic culture where results don't have to produce economic benefits and people have (or had) plenty of time to bang on this stuff until it works (for a given value of works, that they made up).
I won't say I'm not grateful for what the Open Source guys and gals have done, but damn, people. Can't you at least recognize that the world more closely resembles Hell than Utopia?
- clavalle 12y agoDo you believe that commercial software shops are dedicating resources to completely understand their software and 'all of the potential future ramifications'? Or are resources dedicated to pushing out product and moving on to the next? Better a hell I know and can see than one hidden. At least there is a chance of seeing the demons before they strike and exercising them without relying on a priesthood, to stretch the metaphor.
- jimktrains2 12y agoIn addition to what clavalle said: > Do you actually have the ability to understand exactly what the patch is doing and all of the potential future ramifications? Do you even get that _chance_ with proprietary software? (Note: I didn't say commercial; you can have commercial, open-source software.) > Open or closed source doesn't matter if you don't have time or the background to deal with it. Yes, yes it does. Mostly because I can pay someone else who does or gain the background myself. This especially true for custom equipment with custom drivers and software. Once the company goes under there isn't a chance at all of getting anything fixed. > Can't you at least recognize that the world more closely resembles Hell than Utopia? If Hell means having access to the shear abundance of software I do, then yes. Take QGis as a singular example. I couldn't pay for Arc; I just don't have those funds. QGIS gives me all the same features for free. While I can't contribute much in the way of code, I do try to help up doing support, helping with docs, writing tutorials, and evangelizing. Ditto for PostGIS (and by extention PostgreSQL) and Grass If free software didn't exist, a lot of the types of work I do just wouldn't be possible.
- holri 12y agoRed Hat found the bash bug and is a successful commercial company with paid developers. Commercial and free software (freedom) is no contradiction.