Comments on: Free Software=Piracy? http://timothyblee.com/2010/02/26/free-softwarepiracy/ A Blog by Timothy B. Lee Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:37:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Pete http://timothyblee.com/2010/02/26/free-softwarepiracy/comment-page-1/#comment-11522 Pete Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:15:08 +0000 http://timothyblee.com/?p=2542#comment-11522 Exactly. As far as I can see adoption of free software - hell, of open standards generally - is mostly just a great strategy for industries who are scared that proprietary standards are going to give their competitors a means of locking them out the market. The whole "it's an attack on the principal of property" meme is just stupid. The only reason it gets a hearing is because it sounds good to lefties who like to imagine that they're sticking it to the man by using Linux, and great to big businesses trying to protect their monopolies. Exactly. As far as I can see adoption of free software – hell, of open standards generally – is mostly just a great strategy for industries who are scared that proprietary standards are going to give their competitors a means of locking them out the market.

The whole “it’s an attack on the principal of property” meme is just stupid. The only reason it gets a hearing is because it sounds good to lefties who like to imagine that they’re sticking it to the man by using Linux, and great to big businesses trying to protect their monopolies.

]]> By: Timothy B Lee http://timothyblee.com/2010/02/26/free-softwarepiracy/comment-page-1/#comment-11497 Timothy B Lee Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:13:20 +0000 http://timothyblee.com/?p=2542#comment-11497 There's an interesting difference to be drawn between software that's available for public inspection and software that's licensed for modification and redistribution by third parties. In the cases you're mentioning, availability for inspection is really important but modification might not be so crucial. In any event, I'm not aware of any companies in these industries whose software is open source in either sense of the term. They definitely ought to be, at least in the first sense. There’s an interesting difference to be drawn between software that’s available for public inspection and software that’s licensed for modification and redistribution by third parties. In the cases you’re mentioning, availability for inspection is really important but modification might not be so crucial. In any event, I’m not aware of any companies in these industries whose software is open source in either sense of the term. They definitely ought to be, at least in the first sense.

]]> By: Rhayader http://timothyblee.com/2010/02/26/free-softwarepiracy/comment-page-1/#comment-11495 Rhayader Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:06:18 +0000 http://timothyblee.com/?p=2542#comment-11495 Tim do you have any idea of the extent to which open source software is used in the US public sector? It seems like for some applications -- breathalyzers, voting machines, what have you -- an open-source solution would have much greater integrity, as long as you could protect whatever privacy we have left. Tim do you have any idea of the extent to which open source software is used in the US public sector? It seems like for some applications — breathalyzers, voting machines, what have you — an open-source solution would have much greater integrity, as long as you could protect whatever privacy we have left.

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