On Sunday 22 May 2005 11:31, Trevor Warren wrote:

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The same process applies to freesoftware. Free software companies rely on lowering the entry >

barrier - ideally no barrier. Closed software

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companies must affix a price to their product this cost is a balance between an entry barrier and profitability. The entry of free software has totally screwed this equilibrium.

[snip]

I do agree with the same and alogn with you have seen the gradual metamorphisis but there are certain views of yours where i beg to differ JTD. From a business perspective the transition on this front as you have mentioned has been very slow albeit steady. Its growth is indeed highly important for the entire ecosystem (closed-open) to flourish and for the customer to have a choice in what he wants to buy.

Unfortunately prop software vendors are continuosly erecting legal barriers to prevent individuals and small bussiness from entering the field in an attempt to shore up a doomed business plan i.e software distribution (this goes for open software too as the cd vendor case shows). The current spat on software patents is a case in point. As of now patents protect a product, not a generalised description of a method of achieving a task, which is what software actually is. One can write code in an infinite number of ways for doing a given task. Patenting software is one of the many causes dear to a prop company's heart and totally anthema to free software. Software in any case is more than adequately protected by copyrights. DRM is another. DMCA yet one more. All of these want to take away consumer and in many cases producer rights. And without exception it's the closed software companies actively supporting the S#$%.

In short gone are those days when vendors could shove unsupported closed source applns/operating systems and charge abnominable fees for continuing support. We now see CTO's all across the country considering a mixture of Open and Closed options across all horizontals and verticals they play in.

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Which has left the prop companies inside their stockade with a raging inferno outside. Only a matter of time before these companies are burnt to a crispy.

Each one is important for the others survival.

I seriously doubt it. witness the complete disregard for standards, by deliberately breaking them and refusal to publish communication , file format and other docs which encapsulate user data.

While a closed software business may exist it would be impossible for it to survive for any length of time. Free software continues to grow stronger without relying on crooked laws or hiding formats. closed software desperately requires bsd code and obfusication to just stay afloat.

rgds jtd