[Sussex] Linux is capitalism, Microsoft is communism?

[Mark Harrison]

Steve,

Not at all.

That's like saying that mobile phones are the result of a religious
dictatorship, because at some time in the past there was an invention (the
printing press) which happened during a religious government, and all
current inventions "grew out" of that by way of some other intervening
steps.

ARPANET was the result of the military.

The Internet as she exists in 2004 is the result of capitalism. The "massive
growth phase" of the Internet happened after the US Government had given
over control to the private sector, let alone after the military had given
it over to the civilian sector.

Mark


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Dobson" <steve at dobson.org>
To: "LUG email list for the Sussex Counties" <sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Sussex] Linux is capitalism, Microsoft is communism?


> Mark
>
> Trust me to go to my un-wired parents when a good thread starts on the
list.
>
> On Sun, Oct 24, 2004 at 09:30:47PM +0100, Mark Harrison wrote:
> > Time for a new thread, based on one that's just started on another
(non-UK)
> > LUG....
> <snip>
> > I'm not saying that MS aren't very nimble. They are, if you'll pardon
the
> > term, a GOOD (effective, whatever) type 2 economy!
> >
> > However, which came up with:
> >
> > - The World Wide Web?
> > - Instant Messaging?
> > - The Internet itself?
> > - Voice telephony?
> > - The automated switchboard?
>
> The Internet grew out of ARPANET, which was basicly funded by the US
Military
> which means the money came from government.  It is a requirement of US
government
> funded projects that the work is placed in the public domain (unless
security
> related).  I think that this puts the Internet as a result of a type 2
system.