"Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2472445.3S46M2sj5y@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Don't Forget: Open Source Can Be a Weapon
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Question: What do you mean by the phrase "predatory open source"?
> | Haff: I use "predatory" in an admittedly hyperbolic sense. However, what
> | I'm alluding to is that a variety of companies have used open
> | sourcing software as a competitive weapon to [reach a] similar result
> | as would have [resulted from a practice] called predatory pricing.
> `----
>
> http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=23266
Ignoring the insipid theory put forth in this article, it would seem to me
that the same could be said for a closed source program offered at no cost
to some group that saw it as a satisfactory replacement for some previously
paid-for program. The most dramatic case of this was Microsoft's free
distribution of IE and the subsequent rapid demise of Netscape.
Almost no one bothers with any source modifications to Linux or OSS
programs, preferring to use them as found and upgrade when a new version is
released by the developers. Having source code to such programs is not of
any use to the users. Allowing unrestricted copying and distribution of
executable code would be just as effective.
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