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[ox-en] OSS / Free Software debate re-run on slashdot.org



Hi

I have just been doing some moderating on this so I can't post,
there are a few good points being made:

  5th Anniversary of Open Source

  http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/02/04/1918243

  Re:Do you make your own clothes?
  by lenski (96498)

  I am Not an economist... I AM a longtime software developer...

  Moore's law has allowed, for what may be one of the first times in
  history, the de-insdustrialization of a major economic product:
  Computer software. When I started 30+ years ago, computer access was
  for the dedicated geek (this I know... :-) ). A DEC PDP-8 cost 10
  grand. Its 2.5 Mbyte RK05 was an additional 9 grand.

  Today, just about anyone can afford a crappy little out-of-date
  400+MHz, 256Mbyte, 20+gig system, which can make a single individual
  developer economically productive.

  Coupled with The Internet, such people can virtually gather together
  to be economically more productive.

  This has caught all sorts of people by surprise, and those who are
  accustomed to simply "managing" or "owning" the means of production
  have been caught flat-footed by this sea-change in the possession of
  economic productivity. (I think this is why the OSS/libre software
  movement is critically important for the developing world, and why I
  wish that I had enough savings to stop working for money today in
  order to make a real contribution...)

  One of the points (in my opinion) that we must remember is that
  there are people and/or organizations what want to return to the
  days when the few could control the resources required for economic
  productivity of the many.

  FYI, I am using agricultural societies (exemplified by feudalism, as
  observed in places like Europe) and industrial society as basis for
  this thinking.

  I am not a communist, but I will refuse to ever allow someone else
  to take away my freedom to code, and additionally, to team up with
  others of like mind to satisfy our needs for information systems
  productivity.
  
  http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=52795&cid=5226375

  Re:Do you make your own clothes? 
  by ch-chuck (9622)

  A better analogy would be, do we DESIGN our own cloths, automobiles.
  And, as a matter of fact my mom has made lots of cloths. She used to
  run the sewing machines a lot. Now she knits. Man she knits up a
  storm. Every night I sleep under these incredibly warm afghans
  lovingly made while she watched TV. Most of those cloths and
  patterns were, however, purchased plans, kits, etc.

  Anyway, It's not at all inconceivable that a group of Ford
  engineers, in their spare time, make a 'dream design' automobile
  THAT THEY SHARE WITH ANYONE WHO WANTS A COPY. Say they work by day
  to earn a living, but are unhappy with the 'cost reducing' and
  shipping lousy products because of a n agressive marketing deadline.
  So they get together at Billy's Bar and Brainstorm and dream up the
  ultimate street rod, draw up plans most any shade tree mechanic can
  follow and publish it in Hot Rod, sell plans for mostly cost of
  reproduction. Sure, why not.

  DO I Make my own recipies? Sure, I like to experiment in the
  kitches. They are usually derivities of someone elses (someone
  better at it than me!). There's plenty of 'do it yourself' people
  around.

  To me it's all a matter of being independant. The thing that scares
  me the most is becoming dependant on some greedy a$$hole, with no
  alternative but to pay what they demand or die. They do want to
  enslave you, and freedom is a constant struggle, because there has
  always been greedy, domineering, petty tirants, in business and
  government, just like there have always been obsequious sheep ready
  to follow them to the slaughterhouse. 
 
  http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=52795&cid=5226292

Chris
  
-- 
http://chris.croome.net/  

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