At the time I was nonplussed by the comment, but a discussion at Tech Central Station today on developments at the Open Source Business Conference focussed my thinking a little. The Open Source movement is apparently being "mugged by reality," and dropping its collectivist roots in the process; it's a little like George Bernard Shaw's observation that if you aren't a socialist as a teenager you have no heart, and if you aren't a capitalist by thirty you have no brain:
The Open Source Business Conference demonstrated that capitalists have finally discovered a new way to think about software development. For innovation and economic growth to continue, calls for government intervention should be dismissed. Open source products require an open marketplace.
You might be interested to know that one of the major figures in the Open Source world, Eric S. Raymond, is an avowed Libertarian and Second Ammendment advocate.
ReplyDeleteHe maintains a blog called Armed and Dangerous.
See! They're not all commie anarcho-freaks trying to undermine the system.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another plug.
So does he think that Microsoft should be legally restrained? Just wondered - I would have thought that anti-trust laws were anathema to Libertarians?
ReplyDeleteRich, AFAIK she doesn't. And they are. :-)
ReplyDelete