I don’t write many of these, one reason is because editorials only cause problems. However something has come to my attention that should be addressed.

At my work our server is backed by what we nerds call Linux, or an alternative operating system. Linux is based off of Unix and was created by Linus Trovalds. Now not to bore the nerds, but Linux is free to develop and everyone can look at the sourcecode (raw guts of a program) and tweak it. Some companies such as Linspire (formally Lindows, got sued by Microsoft for sounding too much like Windows), Red Hat (the enterprise version) and SuSe sell Linux distributions because they include a nice look and have a bunch of useful (mostly free) programs on a CD. Also when you purchase a distribution instead of downloading a free one, you get a thing called support and we all love support. However they still provide the source code and everyone with adequate knowledge can look at their code. If they use the code in their own project they must credit the original author, then it is perfectly legal.

Well my point is something that I mentioned earlier. Microsoft has a thing called CLOSED source which means that the soure code (remember… raw guts, insides, etc.) is not allowed to be seen by the general public and only by those employed by Microsoft and they will make sure that if it ever leaks that the person responsible for leaks will not be a very good situation. You are better off committing tax fraud then trying to sell Microsoft code. However there are also companies out there that are developing products based on OPEN source and making it closed source. One very great example is CherryOS. CherryOS is a platform emulator (not an OS emulator). It emulates the Mac platform so one can install an Apple operating system such as Mac OS X. Seems like a great idea… too bad that an open source project named PearPC has released a project almost a year ago that does the same thing. Sure it could be two different projects, until you start looking at the guts of CherryOS. There are many lines and references that PearPC in their project still in CherryOS. Long explaination short… CherryOS ripped off PearPC’s code and is selling it for $49.95 and is actually worse then PearPC’s code.

My point to all this. The people stealing the product have money, lawyers, etc. Opensource projects most of the time do not have funding and are merely hobbies of full time programmers (a lot of linux programmers work at IBM, Microsoft, insert company here) so when someone rips them off… they are SOL. I find that repulsive that a company would do something like that and then deny it. It is like Ted Bundy saying that he never killed anyone when the blood is literally on his hands.

Hopefully in the near future something can be done about this. Until then I hope open source projects keep getting developed. They are an asset to the community. Like I said before my work uses Linux and it has saved us a lot of money. Sure it’s not as compatible and easy to learn as say… Windows, but it is more powerful and cheaper when it is setup and ready to go. Something that can’t be said for Windows as that is completely reverse. Windows is easier to setup but you constantly have to manage and look over its shoulder to see what it is doing.

Yes a nerdy editorial but it was bugging the hell out of me.

I’m done ranting for today. I think.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 18th, 2005 at 8:20 pm and is filed under editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.