Re: Linux stifles innovation...

[Michael Bacarella <mbac@nyct.net>]

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 02:38:29PM -0500, Dennis wrote:
> >It's not about facts, it's not about the truth, it's not about Jim
> >Allchin being an idiot or deluded. It's about propaganda,
> >misinformation, and marketing. It's about business. Nothing new, nor
> >unexpected. And to the comment "It is not American to steal", well,
> >it may not be "American", but it's for sure been part of the way of
> >doing business in this country for years. It's not right, it's not
> >ideal, but it IS the way it's done in too many cases.
 
> Its not a "stealing" issue. Its about whether its worthwhile, dollar-wise, 
> to finance innovation. With free source, its not, because you have to give 
> away  your investment and then anyone can use it equally.

Untrue.

Ogg Vorbis is a perfect example of free software innovation. It is one
of the most advanced audio codecs available to date. The libraries are
LGPL'd and the specifications are now and forever public. An audio
codec is only the beginning.

The fact that it's freely available and patent unencumbered can only
be good for it's investors, who happen to be hardware vendors and
content providers (among others).

Funding free software innovation is only a bad idea if the principle way you
plan to make money with it is by controlling it's use (such as MP3).

> Secondly, the 
> "open-source" community openly shuns binary distributions (A. Cox never 
> misses an opportunity), so there is no avenue for commercial innovation 
> that is "worthwhile".

As they should. Binary distributions are always inferior. I'm glad to
have a binary instead of nothing, but I really should've had the
foresight to buy better supported hardware. 


-- 
Michael Bacarella <mbac@nyct.net>
Technical Staff / System Development,
New York Connect.Net, Ltd.