Re: [LI] Message from RMS.

[Atul Chitnis <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 14 Dec 1999, Raj Mathur wrote:

> Do they?  I don't agree that you have to include closed-source apps in
> order to make a successful business.  Apps can always be purchased
> from III-parties if the customer really wants them and free software
> equivalents aren't available.  There's no golden rule which says that
> you /have/ to make proprietary apps available with your Linux distro
> in order for it to be successful, which is what I hear you saying.

And they don't - all distros are available completely devoid of
closed-source stuff (example RH's "RMS" edition, and of course Debian).
To get the commercial apps (which are closed source, you specifically need
to purchase the package that contains these apps - RH's $79 edition is an
example.

There are no closed source components in any of the downloadable versions
of RH, Debian or Suse that I know of - everyone of them makes the source
to stuff developed by them available.

> Uh, let's distinguish between Linux distributions and Linux apps.  I
> can continue to market a completely open-source Linux distro while
> other people make the proprietary apps which run on that
> distribution.  For a while, at least, until they either change or get
> wiped out :)

True, and that's exactly the way it goes. I do not see a conflict in our
viewpoints here.

However, I *do* see conflict if the broad message being put out to the
world is that the Linux community frowns on closed source, commercial
apps. It is extremely unlikely that we will see Oracle putting out the
source code to their stuff in our life time.

The important point that should not be missed here is that there is a
whole economy built on paid-for software and services. People like Oracle
or IBM would instantly lose credibility with their customers were they to
change their model suddenly, because their own customers, who have paid
for the software in the past, and invested heavily, will be pretty upset.
That alone is enough reason to prevent people like Microsoft to from
*ever* making their source code available.

Sun's offer to make source code available is not the same as open-sourcing
it (as Maddog made clear the other day). But it will help bridge the two
worlds to some extent.

Atul