[Gllug] "Open source has its own problems" - article in Computing

[Christopher Hunter]

On Thursday 04 Aug 2005 15:50, Rob Crowther wrote:

> Intellectual Property - he states that all work done when in full time
> employment, whether at work or at home on personal time, is property of
> the employer, the natural conclusion of this is that most OSS is
> actually stolen from people's employers.

What?  Is he advocating "thought Police"?  If I write code for my own use at 
home (and to possibly distribute to other OSS users), it is NOTHING to do 
with my employer.  

My employer pays for about 40 hours of my time per week, and anything I do 
outside those 40 hours is my own business, unless it impinges upon my work 
(like, for example, excessive drinking or law breaking).   I might think 
about the code I'm developing during work time (in an idle moment, or 
travelling between jobs), but I also think about my paid work (sometimes) 
during my leisure time, so my employer and I probably come out roughly even.

> Conceptual integrity - good software needs a single designer with a
> clear vision, and this can't happen with OSS

It could be argued that the problem with much proprietary software is that it 
is developed by committee, so he could have some kind of point there. 

However, all the large software and firmware projects I've ever worked on have 
been the result of collaberatorive effort, and would probably be beyond the 
conceptual grasp of any one individual!
 
> Professionalism - he likens the OSS movement to the games industry of
> the early 1980s, where apparently bedroom coders produced really bad
> games which nearly ruined the whole industry

The standards in most of the proprietary software industry are laughable.  The 
levels of professionalism I've seen in OSS software projects have generally 
been rather higher!

> Innovation - OSS is mostly just rip offs of proprietary software

There are only so many ways of writing and using a Word Processor (for 
example) - OSS software doesn't "rip-off" commercial software, it just tries 
(in some cases) to emulate its' functionality.

> In the conclusion he states: "[OSS]'s perceived strengths do not bear
> close scrutiny, but do highlight current weaknesses in the industry".

He really is completely out of touch.

Chris
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