__/ [ Oliver Wong ] on Wednesday 23 August 2006 22:39 \__
>
> "Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:4625510.hIV9UYuCbM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Open Source Expands Beyond Linux, and Vendors Follow
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | For many people in the IT community--particularly those who are under
>> the
>> | age of 30--Linux was not only the first open source program they ever
>> | encountered. Linux was also the embodiment of open source ideals and the
>> | standard bearer for the open source movement.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.itjungle.com/tlb/tlb082206-story02.html
>
> The comment made me wonder what was the first open source program I
> ever
> encountered. Well, I can't remember, but according to Wikipedia, circa
> 1960s, programs used to be public domain (it was unimaginable that anyone
> would ever *pay* for software), until circa 1975-1980 when they became
> intellecutal property (when people saw they actually had some value). 1983,
> Richard Stallman launched the GNU project and invents the term "copyleft".
> In 1991, Linus announces he will develop Linux (though he didn't call it
> "Linux" at the time). In 1998, the label "Open Source Software" was
> invented with the release of the Netscape Navigator source.
>
> I distinctly remember that around 1998, I was talking to my friends
> about how Netscape was "giving up" and making itself "free" (as in beer,
> the concept of Free as in liberty wasn't significant to me at the time)
> because of pressures from Internet Explorer 3. Can't remember if I had
> heard of "Linux" or "GNU" or "copyleft" back then or not. I'm pretty sure I
> had heard of Linux by 2000, though. I have no idea when I first heard the
> other two terms.
I once read in Wikipedia that it was Gates and co. who decided to stop the
open exchange of code and capitalise on secrecy, as well as the distribution
of binaries. It was rationalised by the assumption that financial incentives
will result in high-quality code. Evidently, Microsoft became a symbol of
closed-source programming ideologies.
Recently it bends, which shows it can never sustain that model, which is
prone to breakage. Security-wise, despite secrecy, Microsoft seems inferior
to all. And no employee is happy to see his/her fine code converted into a
collaboratively-developed 'blob'. It does no justice and it encourages slack
programming styles. If no-one sees it, why embellish or improve (or even
/fix/) it?
Best wishes,
Roy
--
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