Re: [ox-en] Germ of a new form of society or germ of a new form of business?

• From: Martin Hardie <auskadi tvcabo.co.mz>
• Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 06:14:55 +0200

This point of Niall's deserves further discussion. The source is useless if 
you haven't got the skills to use it. The result is that the free in FLOSS in 
this respect is free only to a technical elite.
Mako poo pooed this idea some months ago but from someone without the skills 
(and I have more han your average computer user) the technical elite exists 
and the only way to gain entry or gain the knowledge is by having someone 
show you/Train you. You have to be inducted tot he elite to be able to take 
advantage of the "free" attched to the source code.

On Wednesday 04 February 2004 03:44, Niall Douglas wrote:

It's like stonemasonry in the European middle ages - the resulting
work is often still standing today ie; just like software, it comes
with source. However for centuries the guilds protected their
expertise and thus their control of its practice by using overly
complex techniques and long apprenticeship periods, often running
past a decade. Thus they artifically limited the supply of
stonemasons and thus drove up asking rates.

That's my point. Freeing software is far more than making its source
free. It's about lowering the entry barriers to a point when anyone
can easily be a good programmer, even with only days of training.

You may think this impossible? Ok, look at how many billions are
totally comfortable with their mobile phones? If they can be
comfortable with those, they can be so programming their computer
too.

    Niall> It used to surprise me that all "computer geeks" are very
    Niall> similar. I am just as much part of them. But then I Niall>
    realised we all have the same socioeconomic background, all Niall>
    had plenty of free time in our teenage years and all had Niall>
    expensive schooling (we're also all mostly male).

The generalisations and assumptions you're making in order to prove
your points are moving from being humorous to being pathetic.  I'd
drop it now and retain at least a semblance of self-respect.

-- 
                   
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://openflows.org/~auskadi/

"Mind you, I am not asking you to bear witness to what you believe false, 
which would be a sin, but to testify falsely to what you believe true - which 
is a virtuous act because it compensates for lack of proof of something 
that certainly exists or happened." Bishop Otto to Baudolino in Umberto Eco's 
Baudolino.

_______________________
http://www.oekonux.org/

• Follow-Ups:
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• References:
  • Re: [ox-en] Germ of a new form of society or germ of a new form of business?
    • From: Niall Douglas
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