[BLU] Re: thoughts on esr

[david at kramer.ne.mediaone.net (David Kramer)]

On Thu, 20 Apr 2000, Ron Peterson wrote:

> Timothy Hobbs wrote:
> 
> > I think that even if business-critical software
> > providers do port their products to linux, the closed
> > source nature of (most) of those products still flies in
> > the face of esr's pitch to CIO's that "you need control
> > of your source so that you can change it".
> 
> Are you saying that some products are inherently closed source?  If so,
> why?

I'll take a stab at that.

1) If a company sells a product, or gives the product away GPL-style but
sells support for the product, then giving the source away creates a
monstrous support hassle.  It works for things like Linux because you have
hundreds of thousands (?) of talented geeks who want to help and improve
the product.  That would not be the case for software less glamourous (to
a geek) than an operating system.

2) Most Windows users, even in companies, do not have C compilers or the
knowledge to use them on their computers.

3) Security.  I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with anyone in my company
having the source code to the payroll/expense modules, I worked for a
company on their POS (Point Of Sale (cash regiser)) software.  There were
abuses, both by [other] programmers and by managers who demanded
"features" be put in the code.  One VP acutally set up a "virtual store"
on a computer in the warehouse that had surprizingly brisk sales ;}

4) Even if companies were to embrace using open source software, most
companies are not so altruistic that they will invest resources in
fixing someone else's product then giving the diffs back to the product
vendor for free.  This is unlikely to change soon.
 
> accounting applications.  Accounting, by its very nature, lends itself
> handily to an open source solution, because one of the primary
> requirements of a good accounting package is that it abide by generally
> accepted accounting principals.  Which, of course, are open.  And what's

The accounting software's legal/financial/acounting experts get to
thoroughly verify the products they produce before it is shipped.  If the
source code is shipped with the product, and an employee of the purchasing
company modifies that code, by request or not, are the
legal/financial/acounting experts then going to check that final product
again to make sure it still abides by GAAP and the law?  Do most comanies
have the resources to do this even if they had the inclination?

> I don't buy the argument that open source is o.k. for "simple" projects,

I would not say "simple" is a requirement, but "non-abusable" might be.
If I were an engineer in a manufacturing plant, I would LLLUUUVVV to have
the source for the computer program driving the CNC machines.  Imagine
what I could do.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------
DDDD   David Kramer                   http://kramer.ne.mediaone.net
DK KD  
DKK D  
DK KD  Pretense and adversity are inversely proportional;
DDDD   Adversity reveals the true nature of all things.

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