re: free vs commercial
Whether we call it 'free' or 'open', 'commercial' or 'propriety' is immaterial as long as we know what we are talking about.
As I said before, I'll continue to compare and contrast.
Let's consider one aspect of software, i.e. technical support.
In the 'free' software world, this of course is done freely. You have a problem, post it online and you may or may not get an answer. No one is obliged to answer it within a certain time, if at all. If you do get an answer, if it turns out to be wrong, you can't hold anyone accountable. The person may not be qualified to answer the question. The email addr may be available, but you don't know the person behind it. He/she could be just a kid trying to impress the crowd.
In the 'commercial' world, I know of an online technical support, that provided by HP Computers but is free for all as long as it is related to HP computer products. I have seen how it works. When a question is posed, the response is quick and the person answering the query has a human face. On the questioner part, he/she has to give a feedback on the quality of the answer by giving points to the person who provides the answer. HP ranks the technical support staff with the total points each have accumulated and this in turn affects their performance review.
Which do you think is a better system?
Let's swing to the higher end of the spectrum, that of innovation. One thing that can be safely said about the 'free' software world is that it has not led in innovation. OS? There was UNIX before Linux. Firefox? Apache? Openoffice? All these have commecially innovated counteparts that existed before them. Why? Its in the nature of things and the way they are done. Software is a complex entity. Software innovation requires individual discipline and teamwork. It can't be left to a group of unpaid volunteers who want to do things in their own free way and their own free time.
For the 'free' software movement to leap-frog the 'commercial' world, it has to come up with an innovation which has a competitive advantage over its 'commercial' competitor.
How long do we have to wait for that?
Ken
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