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Re: [LUG] The wrong kind of Open Source.



Neil Williams wrote:

Open source code is not a threat - even if it is Microsoft code. This is
a brilliant example of what is so bad with software patents - open code
tends to better code because the developers cannot hide behind NDA's,
DCMA, EULA's or patents. Developers are human and the path of least

Also they can't nick other people's software and claim it as their own. Windows source code being made available could open up Microsoft to claims of copyright infringement.

resistence is always the one to follow when a deadline is looming. If
you don't NEED to write secure code, the chances are that you won't take
the time to avoid possible exploits or even remove ones that are already
known to you. Easier and quicker to hope that no-one else spots what
you've already seen.

Similarly if the code is unlikely to be seen no need to check who's code it actually is.

Source code is NOT a trade secret and it should not be patented!

Having something as a trade secret dosn't help much if that secret ever gets out. Patents, if applied correctly, are mutually exclusive with trade secrets. Since the application should contain all relevent details.

Source code is a form of speech, it is created free and is created to be
shared.

Software has the set of properties that it is trivially cheap to copy,
whilst being potentially very expensive to write and modify. Which dosn't fit well with the psudo-manufacturing industry model quite a
few propietary software companies try to apply.


(n.b. this is not anti-Microsoft for the sake of it - I believe it
illustrates a classic problem for those who would try to shackle the
freedom of any computer code, including SCO.)

I'm not convinced that SCO know what they are up to ;)


Their idea appears to be some kind of elaborate method to subvert
the normal operation of copyright law.

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