Re: a Free Platform License?
On 24 November 2011 13:08, Clark C. Evans <cce@clarkevans.com> wrote:
> Free and open source software can be used without
> restriction on proprietary platforms, yet, the reverse
> isn't true. If a open source application is useful
> enough, it'll be ported to Windows or OSX. As a result,
> proprietary operating systems have all the goodness we
> provide -- plus proprietary stuff we don't.
>
> Here's the rub. When a free and open source application
> is ported to a proprietary platform with a higher user
> base, perhaps it brings higher value to that platform
> than it does to the free platform it was developed with.
> At the very least, a port neutralizes any relative
> advantage the free platform might have had.
There is also value to the free and open source community in "gateway
apps", great open source apps that run on Windows or Mac in addition
to the Linux/BSD world. These apps ease the transition from a
proprietary environment to a free environment because it's a lot
easier to switch from Firefox on Windows to Firefox on Debian than it
would to switch from Internet Explorer, for instance. I like that KDE
is so easily installable on Windows.
Although the apps might be available on a closed platform, they
generally aren't installed by default. One reason I use Linux is that
most of the apps I use come installed by default or an easy install
away. And it's very easy to keep the apps up-to-date, which still
isn't possible in OS X or even Windows 8. My point is that the open
platform still has advantages even though some of the same apps are
available on closed platforms. Neither Windows nor OS X has all the
"goodness" Linux has, nor are the additional proprietary apps
available on those platforms necessarily "goodness."
By the way, the GCompris developer only distributes half the
educational activities in his official Windows or Mac installers
unless the user pays a fee: http://gcompris.net/Windows,38 I believe
that is fully ok with the GPL since the source is freely available.
Jeremy
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