Not surprisingly with billions of dollars of business at stake,
resistance to moves in favour of open source software is fierce... but without
free software it's impossible to have a significant policy of digital
inclusiveness.Interesting article from CounterPunch by Tony Solo
10/10/03
Misery and Intellectual Property Rights
Trashing Free Software "In a world without fences
who needs gates?" The question on the T-shirt flags the developing struggle
between Microsoft, led by Bill Gates, and its rapidly growing open source
software rivals. The arguments around patents, copyright and software mark
another decisive failure for hypocritical advocates of "free trade". Perhaps
only on agricultural policy are neo-liberal arguments more obvious as shameless
propaganda for monopoly capitalism.
The term open source
software--the opposite of proprietary software--applies to computer applications
made freely available under a public license agreement so anyone can adapt and
improve them. The most common complaints about Microsoft's proprietary software
programs are their relatively high cost and that, when they break down, only
Microsoft can fix them. Increasingly, large organizations of all kinds are
opting for open source solutions to their computer needs because open source
products are generally cheaper, more reliable and easier to fix when they go
wrong. The personal computer market is not far behind.
Some of the
biggest buyers are national or local government bodies. In May this year the
city authority of Munich decided to convert its 14,000 computers to an open
source operating system (the most well-known, called Linux). Microsoft worked
hard to try and swing the deal their way, but still got turned down. In Brazil,
the government is planning to use open source software in up to 80% of its
computers. In Spain and Australia, municipal authorities have ruled that
purchasing policies must prioritize open source programs. In September this year
the governments of Japan, China and South Korea agreed to start a joint
open-source software project for a wide range of applications.
Read
the rest from original source:
www.counterpunch.com
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