Ne'er a truer word was spoken. Frankly, a company like CodeWeavers, which is the largest corporate sponsor of the Wine project, would be *thrilled* to have more active involvement from larger developers (such as Novell, IBM, RedHat, etc.). But it hasn't happened. In the case of Wine, not wanting to overtly antagonize Microsoft also plays a factor in their unwillingness to contribute.
Cheers, -jon parshall- COO CodeWeavers > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Greg > Woodhouse > Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 12:33 PM > To: Hardhats; Openhealth > Subject: [Hardhats-members] The Givers and Takers of Open Source > > > This is from today's ACM TechNews, see > > <http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=1 > 87202790> > > for the full article. > > The Givers and Takers of Open Source > InformationWeek (05/15/06)No. 1089, P. 44; Babcock, Charles > > The bulk of the work that goes into developing open-source software is > left to uncompensated, mostly anonymous volunteer coders, while large > companies to whom the software often plays a critical role could pull > more weight by getting their own programmers to contribute. Apache Web > Server project co-founder Brian Behlendorf partly attributes the > comparatively low levels of corporate participation in open-source > development to a cultural disparity: He says that whereas business > programmers usually focus on the bottom line to the exclusion of all > else, open-source developers have a "willingness to challenge > authority, the passion to work on an interesting problem well past the > end of the workday, and the time and space to be able to build the > right solution to a problem rather than just the most expedient." > Another factor discouraging big companies from contributing to open > source is their reluctance to cede the rights to the software they > develop, as dictated by the General Public License. Open-source > hard-liners may actually welcome the large companies' overall policy of > non-involvement, as it alleviates fears that too much involvement could > degrade the quality of open-source software. Open-source coders are > often generalized into two categories: Core contributors who undertake > big projects and tend to hail from small companies, universities, > government agencies, and consulting firms; and large-company employees > who are more proficient at spotting glitches, testing code, and > suggesting patches and improvements. Many corporate open-source users > obtain their software from commercial open-source vendors, which can > chill the impulse for altruism. The blunt criticism open-source > enthusiasts apply to each other's work, which is so critical to the > software's quality, is a rarity in large companies. The potential for > hobbyists to make money from their efforts is also growing, which will > complicate matters unless the profit-driven open-source development > model and the purist model can find a way to live together. > > > > === > Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Metaphors be with you. > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? > Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make > your job easier > Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo > http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642 > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > ------------------------------------------------------- Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
