View source for Bradley Kuhn on Free Software Communities vs. Open Source Companies



=Discussion=

Bradley Kuhn:

"Most software companies produce mostly proprietary software, and
sometimes a little bit of Free Software.  Many of these companies now
talk a "good game" of being "pro Open Source", but don't release most of
their stuff as Open Source and/or Free Software.

We should certainly criticize Canonical's move.  Hoewver, we should also
realize it yields a more emotional response in us when an otherwise
all-Free Software company has begun to dip its toe in proprietary
software.  Remember that IBM, for example -- for all they do positively
for software freedom -- produces and licenses more proprietary software
and more software patents each week than Canonical will in a year.

I know this pain well: I went through it with HelixCode/Ximian, Red
Hat, and a host of other previously Free Software companies that became
partly proprietary software ones.  It hurts a lot because, as a software
freedom advocate, one feels betrayed.  I guess I've seen it enough that
I expect every for-profit company to eventually switch to a proprietary
software model in part.  One can always make more money with proprietary
software than Free Software, and for-profit companies serve only one
goal: MAKE.MONEY.FAST.  We should expect them to ditch any principle in
front of them at the altar of greed, and just hope they do it later
rather than sooner.  That's what I've been doing with Canonical for years,
and when I saw Launchpad go proprietary and now UbuntuOne, I just thought:
"Oh well, here we go again.  It was good while it lasted."

Meanwhile, we should be careful to criticize these specific acts only
and not condemn the whole company any more than we condemn part
proprietary/part Free Software companies in other realms.  Condemning
people who do MOSTLY Free Software some proprietary software as much as
we criticize those who do MOSTLY proprietary software and some Free
Software is out of proportion."
(Autonomo.us discussion list, May 2009)



[[Category:Governance]]