On Fri, 2003-11-07 at 11:45, Jonathan Dowland wrote: > On Fri, Nov 07, 2003 at 11:01:58AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote: > > > As in "proprietary, closed-source apps"? > > > > Well, that depends on if you see them as a "problem", or something > > that you prefer not to use. > > > > I prefer not to use proprietary, closed-source apps, but, when > > necessary, will pay for them, and use them, even on Debian. > > Personally I haven't really made my mind up about prioprietry apps, and > whether RMS is right or not. However, the success of Linux is widely > attributed to the open-source development model, so I can't really see > the future of Linux throwing it away.
I'm all for the open-source development model. However, we must respect that some companies want to keep their source closed, and still sell to the Linux market. For example, as good as PostgreSQL is, there are many places where it doesn't have the needed oomph or feature set that companies need. Thus, Oracle, IBM (with DB/2 & Informix) & Sybase meet the need. On the other end of the scale, there are, as far as I know, no OSS packages comparable to Reader Rabbit or Calendar Creator or Act! or EndNote or Quark. Some are ok, but in many cases, nothing is out there in the OSS world. The standard OSS business model is "the program+source is free, and we make money selling support". However, the bottom line is that there just is no market for supporting consumer-grade apps like Reader Rabbit and Calendar Creator, or even SOHO apps like Act! and EndNote. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ron Johnson, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jefferson, LA USA "What other evidence do you have that they are terrorists, other than that they trained in these camps?" 17-Sep-2002 Katie Couric to an FBI agent regarding the 5 men arrested near Buffalo NY -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]