Re: [LI] Programming help [Humorous]

[Raj Mathur <raju@xxxxxxx>]

Sure, count me in the second category.  I can live without Oracle,
Netscape, DB2 and Netscape Messaging Server until free equivalents
come out (if they're not already there).  Down with software hoarding!

BTW, in my original post I was ranting against the people who use free 
software to /develop/ proprietary systems.  I have nothing against
people who port their products to Linux using free software (even if
there's another way of doing it).

If you take the discussion further (why is everyone screaming? :-), it 
doesn't make sense to develop, purchase and deploy proprietary
software in today's world.  Not only does this reduce the amount of
wealth in the world (read RMS), but it has been amply proven time and
again that the free software model of software development and
deployment leads to systems which are:

	- more stable
	- more relevant to the users' needs
	- more secure
	- easier to maintain
	- cheaper to deploy
	- less expensive to maintain (read: less TCO)
	- more fun overall

Supporting proprietary software (by either of development or
deployment) only means that we will have to wait a bit longer before
the free equivalents become marketable.  When Apache runs 56% of the
world's web servers, where is the need to purchase Netscape
Enterprise?  When sendmail handles over 70% of the world's e-mail,
where is the need to to deploy NS Exchange?  And these are not
isolated examples; wait a while and you will find similar stories in
the fields of database systems, file serving, scientific and
mathematical apps, you name it.

So forget about moving that SCO Oracle app over to Linux Oracle and
instead start porting it to PostgreSQL.  You'll benefit from increased
stability and security and lowered TCO in the long term.

-- Raju

>>>>> "Swapan" == Swapan Sarkar <swapan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

    Swapan> I guess we will have this debate go on till Fuzzy Logic,
    Swapan> Neural Networks or Genetic Algorithms become mainstream
    Swapan> when access to full source code becomes useless to some
    Swapan> extent.

    Swapan> -swaps

    Swapan> Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 00:54:32 -0700 From: Arun Sharma
    Swapan> <adsharma@xxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [LI] Programming help

    Swapan> A prolonged discussion on this topic is irrelevant to the
    Swapan> list. But still, this matter is important enough to be
    Swapan> addressed. So let me see if we can

    Swapan> keep this short and to the point.

    Swapan> On Sun, Oct 31, 1999 at 08:19:21AM +0530, Raj Mathur
    Swapan> wrote:
    >> I strongly disagree with that statement: if you develop
    >> proprietary software using free software tools and libraries,
    >> you are basically a leech. Yes, I know, open software is so
    >> much better than proprietary software for doing development in,
    >> it runs faster, it is more stable, and the rest.  However, if
    >> you're developing proprietary software, pay

    >> for and bear with the tools that are available to you for doing
    >> that.  Nothing personal, but I have very little but contempt
    >> for people who take from the free software world without giving
    >> back to it, and even less than that for people who use these
    >> tools and operating systems to

    >> expand their own private universes.

    Swapan> That means, in your opinion, any company that exclusively
    Swapan> develops closed source software should NOT port their
    Swapan> software to Linux, because they'll be using GNU gcc, GNU
    Swapan> libc and everything else they didn't pay for.

    Swapan> I'm not sure that's what everyone using Linux
    Swapan> wants. Ultimately, it boils down to - whether you want an
    Swapan> open source computing platform that is usable and doesn't
    Swapan> cost an arm and a leg or you want to convert the whole
    Swapan> world to use free (as in speech) software exclusively.

    Swapan>         -Arun

    Swapan> http://sharmas.dhs.org/~adsharma/opinions/gpl-is-unrealistic.html

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