There seems to be some confusion regarding open-source
software in the article "Open Source
101" .
Open source does not mean just Linux, but the whole
article was about Linux. Linux is a big part of open-source software,
but the software is not limited to Linux-based systems. Open-source
software does exist for other platforms such as Mac OS X and Windows.
Projects like OpenCd.org and GNUWin are examples of bringing open-source
software to the Windows users worldwide.
Joel
Philip
http://www.learnoss.com
I chose to focus
most on Linux since the article was intended to ease new users into open
source, and Linux is the poster child--or the poster penguin, as the
case may be--for the industry right now. In terms of other open source
products and angles, I feel that's well-covered by our Linux Advisor,
Eric Foster-Johnson, in his monthly column. --Elizabeth
Millard
Volunteerism: its own reward
Reader Larry
DeVries ("Does open source
exploit?" ) doesn't know the difference between slavery and
volunteerism.
I volunteer. By being free, I'm not limited to
popular activities with large capital bases. Instead, I go where the
need is. I can afford this partly by relying on other volunteers. I use
their software, even on a Windows platform, all licensed.
We're
surrounded by institutions that are now paid but were built by
volunteers, like public libraries. Meanwhile, scientific advances rely
on peer review by professors virtually every time. Research authors and
peer reviewers are usually unpaid for publishing and reviewing. They do
enhance their rŽsumŽs, but so do Linux programmers. What's good for the
gander is good for the goose.
Patents and copyrights expiring
mean creators eventually give their innovations up with no more pay. We
don't notice that for software because of the pace and breadth of
development, but if I create something and want public protection now,
in exchange I have to put it into public hands later. That's a kind of
volunteering on which business depends. Linux licensing is a form of
that.
Linux startup development could have been salaried, but who
was willing to pay? And who would've been hired? People with ability and
interest but no reputation, and who couldn't get in the door for a
paycheck, could still write software others could analyze and test. It
became a movement. If you can raise the capital and single-handedly
write a fantastic new software suite, by all means do so. If your
investors will finance the marketing to swamp Linux, Microsoft, and
Apple, you're on to something. Until then, all those enterprises and
more (Sun, Novell, open-source BSDs, a few shack-dwellers) will continue
swamping each other where they can, and I'll have better products to
support my volunteerism.
Nick Levinson
New York
City
nick_levinson@yahoo.com
More on Mirra
I
read your article "Backup made easy" and found it very instructive.
We're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means money is always hard to
come by. We'd be interested in a device like the Mirra Personal Server,
but, given that we're not part of a network nor do we share files nor
would we have any reason to tie that server into the Web--we'd use it
strictly for backup--is there a similar device that would serve (no pun
intended) our needs and cost less money?
Dr. Irving David
Shapiro
Shapiro@menssana.org
I think the Mirra Personal
Server may well be a good solution for you, too. In fact, in my suite of
tests for the Mirra product, I used it to back up three computers that
happen to share Internet access through a wireless router. These aren't
networked computers in the traditional sense--two of them aren't even
plugged into the router--but with Mirra's software installed, they
backed up files to the server without a hitch, and with minimal effort.
None of the computers in this scenario shared any resources except for
Internet access through a router, and the only physical setup required
was plugging the Mirra server into the same router. The other Mirra
features--file sharing, sharing through the Internet, etc.--require
extra steps that you wouldn't even need to think about. --Matt
Lake
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