I think if you take your logic of why open standards are beneficial and extend that to open source software you can see how it's beneficial to not just programmers. You avoid vendor lock-in on everything, not just with which software you use, but with support, bug fixes, with consulting, all aspects. We use a lot of closed source software in our chip design efforts, and there is nothing more frustrating when the vendors support is lousy, and their bug fixes are slow or non-existant, and there is nothing you can do about it. There is no competition there, unless you want to switch to an entirely different piece of software. These software packages "support" the open IEEE verilog standard, but it's a pain to switch from one to another because their interface is different, you have to write all new scripts, and all kinds of other stuff, even though they will all parse your standard verilog code. It would be better if there was more help and/or competition (we'd pay) for things like bug fixes and support.
Another annoying headache is licensing. Each piece of software we run requires a network connection so it can talk to a license daemon (this "feature" is brought to you by everyone's favorite, Macrovision). The daemon is notorious for mysteriously refusing to talk on the network at random times. It's still running, so your monitors and alarms don't warn you, but if you want to start up some critical piece of software you find out quick that you have to log onto the server and restart the daemon. Just one more headache I could avoid by using open source software. Finally, I love being free to copy stuff. It's so easy these days, and it seems so ridiculous to not be allowed to do it. Bryan On Wed, 2003-10-01 at 10:07, District Webmaster wrote: > So I've been thinking about something lately, and I'd like to hear > the list's thoughts on the matter. Bear with me before you get your > flame throwers out . . . > > I've been wondering how much the average end user really from Open > Source software -- does the fact that a package is OS make a significant > difference to a person who is not a programmer? Sure -- they could > pay a programmer to do some work for them, but in my experience, > it takes a fairly in-depth understanding of how a package works > before you even know if it _can_ (or ought to) be modified the way > you'd like. And then the cost of paying a programmer to add your > modifications may be prohibitive. > > Programmers, on the other hand, should generally have very positive > experiences in their role as OSS end users. They have the knowledge, > means, talent, background, moxie or whatever to modify source code > in meaningful ways. > > Now _Open Standards_ on the other hand, seem to be very beneficial to > the average end user. When the end user utilizes file formats, network > protocols, etc. that are based on open standards, they avoid vendor > lock-in. This means the consumer dictates to the vendor what level of > service is required. If the vendor fails to respond satisfactorily, > the consumer can choose another vendor. > > Take, for example, Adobe's pdf file format. The software Adobe makes > and sells is proprietary. The pdf format is essentially an open > one because Adobe voluntarily publishes very detailed information > about the format in a timely manner. The result is that a great many > software packages can create pdf files -- and there are also multiple > readers. The fact that none of us has access to Adobe Acrobat's > source code hasn't been a detriment to us -- but the fact that the > pdf standard is (essentially) open, has been a benefit to all of us. > > I'm not trying to suggest that open source software isn't important, > or good, or any of that. I'm just wondering if the greater impact > comes from open standards. > > Of course, I may be way off track. Please enlighten me. > > Dave > > ____________________ > BYU Unix Users Group > http://uug.byu.edu/ > ___________________________________________________________________ > List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
