[Ilugc] Re: REAL FOSS

From: steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx (steve)
Date: Sat Jul 24 19:21:35 2010

Hey Nishant,

On 07/24/2010 06:14 PM, Nishant Prakash Kashyap wrote:

*Finally I've learned one thing, even Open Source is not for Community,
it is test bed for Corporate houses, a place for them to get the
developers work for free, finally put a logo and then earn name, fame or
money(anone one or all). And if any of the community member ever tries
to give his REAL open views, best is taken care to supress the views.*

Why do you feel that way ? Are you just in rant mode ? It is ok. Everyone has a
sense of disillusionment at one point or the other. However, it would be good
to
remember a few things in moments like this:

a. The principles behind free software existed *looooong* before 'open source'
became a buzz word and appealing to the corporate houses. Except for a few
extremely dedicate individuals *most* free software developers had day time
jobs
in full blown /proprietary/ companies (eg: Sun, Novell, IBM ...etc). That did
not stop them from doing what they loved in their free time and exchanging the
fruits of their labor in a free manner. Think about this a bit. There was a
time
(just about 20 years back !) when even /suggesting/ something resembling open
source within your company would only end up making you look like a fool.
...and
I'm not even talking about some lowly developers ...a lot of who's-who of the
FOSS world didn't even have the choice to work at a company which was at least
in some manner open to FOSS.
FOSS survived those times and there are companies now who at least work
with
the community (even if the motivation is personal gain).

b. The reason a company exists is because of money. There is *nothing* wrong
with using FOSS as a "test bed for Corporate houses, a place for them to get
the
developers work for free, finally put a logo and then earn name, fame or
money(anone one or all)...." In fact that is the way most successful FOSS
companies work ! The point to remember is, even doing this, requires time,
effort, dedication and most importantly an understanding of the sharing culture
inherent in the community. Any company that does not get this, might be able to
leach of the community for a while but will die in the long run. Look at Sun as
an example of this. Companies can't just take and 'not' give back. It doesn't
work that well in the long run. Companies like Red Hat have understood this.

c. If you think anyone /owes/ you something because you are part of the
community, you need to re-examine why you are here in the first place. Every
FOSS developer makes a choice to use/adopt and contribute to FOSS for
/personal/
reasons. They contribute freely knowing fully well that their contributions
might be just 'taken' by anyone (without even a thank you note) and that
they'll
get nothing in return. This is ok ! Think about this too a bit. Say you write
an
encryption library and release it under an open source license, now /anyone/,
including Pakistan, China, North Korean, Al-Qeada have the 'freedom' to use
your
software for any purpose (freedom 0[1]). You should /understand/ the
implication
of this before saying that you believe in FOSS. You should come to the maturity
to understand that FOSS developers don't care what you do with the software as
long as you stick to the limited set of rules enforced by the copyright
license.
So if greedy companies are 'leaching' off the community and not following the
'spirit' of FOSS, let them. If however, they are breaking the law by ignoring
the conditions of the copyright, you can take them to court[2].

d. Finally, understand that *you* are the community. Each one of us makes it
what it is. The leaders of the community as we know it today, faced a lot of
problems, but they stuck by their principles, some working silently to improve
the software in their free time while their efforts were being 'taken
advantage'
of by greedy people, others being extremely vocal and refusing to compromise
even a bit - however, in the end they won and are winning ! Perceptions won't
change overnight. Corporate greed will *never* die. /You/ as a person have to
make the choice whether you want to continue believing in the principles of
FOSS. It is nobody's responsibility (least of all corporate's) to facilitate
the
community, it is just a choice /you/ make.

Hope you give up your negativity, forget about greedy companies and return to
being part of this FOSS community, which is *ours* to make it whatever we want
to make it.

cheers,
- steve

[1] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
[2] ...and organizations like EFF (http://www.eff.org/) and gplviolations
(http://gpl-violations.org/) will help you with that.

--
Regards,
Nishant Kashyap

--
random spiel: http://lonetwin.net/
what i'm stumbling into: http://lonetwin.stumbleupon.com/

[Ilugc] Re: REAL FOSS

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