Re: A Linux Today story has been mailed to you!

["soumya" <soumya@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Biju Chacko <biju@xxxxxxxxxxx> was found saying on Monday, April 16,
2001 16:55


>
>Look, no company can survive giving away something for nothing. The
>rationale behind OSS is that the ppl who download it for free will
>pay for it in patches, bug reports, docs or what have you. By
>returning _something_ to the community, the costs are shared too. It
>works on the honour system -- nobody insists that you do so.
>
IMO about 70% of software costs are in testing, marketing,
documentation and user support in OSS this cost is often saved. So if
the community is spreading the message and user base it is doing part
of the contribution. 



>But if the majority of customers neither return to the community or
>purchase the for-profit value additions, then where does that leave
>the Open Source  commercial company? They do not get paid _and_
>their development costs are not being reduced by community patches.
>
>End result -- bankruptcy.
>
>

Secondly, many of the author is more interested in spreading his name
- - a sort of hunger for fame. OSS do give some support to the cause.
GPL lacks in one sense, that it does not protect the author from
piracy. Any copycat can lift the source from some place and claim as
his own.

Fortunately, so far this is not so rampant. But once it happens, it
will be the doomsday for GPL/OSS.

IMO some thing should be done to ensure that original identity of the
author is not pilfered.

- - Soumyanath Chatterjee
- ---
URL: http://www.geocities.com/soumyanath

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com>

iQA/AwUBOtujO7JjT8i6jcY2EQKp2wCgmVNGLGavoz9Bh30LNldSTxm+1AgAoLA5
r+9erUwyv36TWDq7cxrUPGcM
=nK4l
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----