-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Open Source and Sustainability, Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| More so than ever, it seems that merely beating the competition today, or
| satisfying the customer today, is just the wrong way of looking at the
| problem. Look at the ruins of a US economy based on writing profitable but
| questionable mortgages, or building impressive but inefficient automobiles.
| We need to think longer-term. We need to ask the question "if I win the game
| for the next 20 quarters (five years), will I still be alive to play the
| 21st?". This seems to be the question that too many in Corporate America and
| elsewhere have conveniently ignored or neglected to ask. Now millions of
| investors and millions of taxpayers are all paying a heavy price.
`----
http://opensource.org/node/377
And when the company that vends the software goes bankrupt, good luck escaping
lock-in or sticking with the same unmaintainable, unpatchable software.
Rule #2: Create a community
,----[ Quote ]
| Creating the right atmosphere of productive leisure may be a challenge for
| some projects, but it will be worth it. So spend some time to understand who
| you’re trying to serve with your project and also who’s likely to be in a
| position to contribute. Make it as easy as possible for them to do so.
|
| As we push the envelope on what free development and commons based peer
| production can accomplish, we will need to pay closer attention to how
| communities are created and maintained. We will also need to adapt our
| techniques to suit a broader audience of potential contributors.
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/books/mihrfc/rule_2_create_a_community
Recent:
Open Source Software and Africa
,----[ Quote ]
| As an advocate for free, open-source software, I have run into
| Microsoft's "battles" many times, and your article ("Microsoft Battles
| Low-Cost Rival for Africa," page one, Oct. 28) made visible many of the
| issues around money-poor African nations being wooed by a large, powerful
| monopoly.
|
| However, your article doesn't go into the deeper value of using FOSS in
| Africa. Because FOSS supplies the source code for the software used, end
| users have the choice of using the software as it exists on the Internet or
| changing the software to meet their needs. Getting security fixes for
| software running on older systems (a natural need when you make $3 a day),
| changing the software to support your native language (not everyone speaks
| English), getting ancient peripherals to work long after the vendor lost
| interest in them (usually less than a year after the product ships), and
| developing a software economy in their own economic terms (creating high-tech
| jobs inside of their countries, instead of sending the money out of their
| countries) are all things that should be considered in the argument of free
| versus closed-source software.
|
| The public should ask how a company like Microsoft can continue to justify to
| their shareholders creating needed changes to their software for people who
| can't pay for those changes? The answer is that they can't justify it. In the
| future they will have to either start charging for the software on which
| people are now dependent or abandon the effort.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122602569707107649.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkkiHw4ACgkQU4xAY3RXLo4/xACdHVu3GomsVJyUg9AXd03xbVnF
AmQAnjeaPfr1uFgIk7n7vmbFd7H4ercX
=BnZY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
