Development models // was Re: [Fsfe-uk] NCC Filetab for Linux

[MJ Ray]

Tom Weiss <address@hidden> wrote:
> However, there is a significant change required in the way the IT
> industry works before the businesses that make money out of proprietary
> software can make money out of free software.  [...]

Oh, quite probably.  We need to trigger a great restructuring and finish
what has been started.

> To many businesses, it is simply not viable - either within the
> organisation, or to their investors - [...]

Then their businesses will become non-viable, in the long term.

> If an organisation is therefore faced with a desire to be involved in
> free software, but not yet ready to make its software freely available
> is it not a good step to produce a cost-free version that runs on Linux?

It is a good step for the organisation, but not necessarily for the free
software movement.  At best, it promotes the free software that it runs on
(in this case, GNU/Linux for i386 I think), but at worst it hinders the
creation and adoption of free software competitors.  I guess free software
probably comes out around neutral with new users of one piece of code
counterbalancing lost users of another, while the organisation gains new
users, but potentially the owner of their original platform loses some.

On balance, I think our reaction as a community should be neutral, possibly
pausing to offer assistance about releasing under a free software licence.

However, what started this thread was a complaint about advertisement of
proprietary software on a Free Software Foundation Europe mailing list.  I
think I have yet to see anyone disagree that this is unacceptable.

MJR