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by Fred Grott.
Original Post: Closed Source and the Art of Reininvention
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You may be wondering why non US Comanines, Countries, and gorups are
adopting OpenSource at a faster pace than groups in the US. There are some
valid reasosn for this trend that we should explore.
One,
developing ocuntries have figured out that if infastructure costs is
lowered more can be spent on technology. What is infrastructure in the
internet world? Infrastructure in an internet world is the Operating
System that runs the router and server, runs the telecommunications
server/gateway, and etc. Infastructure in ogvernment terms of IT is the
Opeerating system and software used by the government to do jobs and
services for the tax paying citizens. The cost is o much lower becasue
everyone is not reinventing the wheel.
An example of reinventing
the wheel in the PC World is the amount of GUI Operating Systems
reinvented in the 1980s-1990s totalling 20 billion in costs or more taken
way from the buying public. We had Amiga, MacOS, Windows, OS/2,
Star(Xerox), and etc.Just imagine for the moment that money in costs being
freed up and what the public could do with that money! Could have fed
several Nations for decades.
Many in the closed source world will
claim that OpenSource reinvents closed source code and technology. Number
one, we cannot copy the code and its technology because its under a closed
copyright in which we are prevented from doing so in the normal course of
development. Then on top of that a closed source company will attempt to
lock open source or closed source competition from using free computer
science knowledge through patents. While closed source will always claim
that we are reinventing the wheel, we are just buidling on past kowledge
and systems that came from the university settings. Whereas closed source
systems attempt to take what was created in the unviersity settings and
close it up to overcharge and demand Monoplistic profits often times
reinventing the wheeel because they are competing with another closed
source company.
What do I mean by free computer science knowledge?
Do you pay taxes in your Country in some manner? Yes? Then you have
received free computer knowledge that your country's major universities
have produced and why should that knowledge be locked up again when the
student graduates from that University through NDA, Patent application or
closed source copyright? better yet why should you pay 10 timesthe amount
in MS product cases for software upon the locking up of this knoweldge?
You paid for it once already why twice or many more?
Because the
computing device whether it smobile or not extends our power to think,
reason, earn income, create new benefits for humanity, and etc; the
software used is actually part of that infastructure. Its time to lower
the costs of that infrastructure so that countires, groups of people,
individuals, families, and et ccan particpate in the developing of the
world and the human race instead of having to destroy it in the attempt to
mirrior their own despair through terrorists acts.
The closest
example in the closed source world of this philosophy of lowering
infastructure costs for everyone so that everyone may reap the benefits of
earning money is the SymbianOS and the Symbian company developing an OS
for mobile phones. Symbian is owned by Nokia, Psion, Samsung, Siemens,
Panasonic, Ericsson, SonyEricsson, and Motorola.
The closest
example of thi same philopshy in the open source world is Linux in that we
have one Kernel+GNU=An Operating System. And yet we have numerous
distributors that are able to earn money through services they provide and
they can do their own implementation of a Linux Operating Ssystem without
app sbreaking and without dramatically increasing the costs to the end
users!
Does the reinvention debate, closed vs opensource, matter
when your wallet is being excessively drained? Would it not make sense to
keep that moeny to use for other more important issues other than the
computing/human thinking tool infastructure of the modern world? Such as
what? Running a small buisness that pays for your and your family's living
expenses.
Then again you could continue to spin your wheels
debating the reinvention debate of closed vs opensource for decades and
keep over spending for that computing/human thinking tool infrastructure.
Its about time to accept that this network of computing devices, software,
and etc is our human extensions of oursleves and is owned not by companies
but by the world!
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