[NCLUG] Re: Linux World domination (was "Re: NCLUG Digest...", etc.)

[Sean Reifschneider]

Scott Kleihege wrote:
> False.  There is not an equal risk that free software advocates can

You guys realize that when Linus says "World Domination", he's saying it
tongue in cheek, right?  Maybe it's not as obvious in text mode, but in
person it was quite obvious to me.

Or are we going to start arguing about the animal cruelty angles of putting
grease on a weasel next?  Could he have meant that tongue in cheek as well?

But even if freed software did get into a position that looked like world
domination...  Because of it's openness it doesn't really have the ability
for one individual to control the market, which is typically when
monopolies start needing to be opened.  This world domination might cause
other providers to be more open, but monopolies typically have been
problems when they were closed and they were corrected by opening them up.

So, I agree with Scott, that world domination by freed software can't
really lead to it being a monopoly.  Other's can continue to make freed or
not software (speaking as someone who has made money publishing restricted
distribution software, which was still open source), and to take what
others use/provide/modify it.

So, semantically, it may sound like a monopoly in that it has majority
market share, but it just can't restrict competition like you would see in
monopolies as defined in, say, the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

Sean
-- 
Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995: Ask me about High Availability

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