Alexander Terekhov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/73994/index.html > (Novell Releases Mono 1.2 With Enhanced Support for .NET on Linux) > > EASTERBROOK to http://www.catb.org/esr :-) "People willingly pay for > quality software even when they can get free (but imperfect) > substitutes. Open Office is a free, open-source suite of word > processor, spreadsheet and presentation software, but the proprietary > Microsoft Office has many more users. Gimp is a free, open-source > image editor, but the proprietary Adobe Photoshop enjoys the lion’s > share of the market. > > ... > > The GPL and open-source software have nothing to fear from the > antitrust laws." > > Oracle et al (Microsoft will probably join soon) will now supply > ancillary Linux et all (including Mono) support services with a > vengeance. Goodbye Red Hat, Novell and IBM in thier "services" > business model. > > What a perfect work, smarty EASTERBROOK.
Services are not software, and the service market can be monopolized. That has nothing to do with the GPL per se. However, the market for GPL _software_ copies _is_ wide open to predatory pricing: everybody can pick up a competitor's version and sell it for less. And that can impact business models quite seriously. But it is a hurdle that one can't blame Easterbrook for. It is inherent to free software as a distribution model. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
