The word "free" can mean different things in English language. The distinction between free software and open source software is that open source software is the description of the development process while free software mean "no price". Free software is most often also open source software, open source software on the other hand is not always "no price" soft.
In recent years there have been made efforts to bring the open source software closer to the business world so that the open source projects could get a bigger user base and be applied to the business world. The initial founder of the GNU license does not approve this approach and does not want to make any compromises between commercial software and open source software - seeing the commercial software and IP principles to be rotten to the core.
I would support the approach where the open source software has commercial applications as well. The good example would be Wordpress.org blogging software where there are both "for price" and "no price" plugins available while Wordpress product itself is open source solution.
The world of open source and free software can also be kind of grey sometimes - such as in cases of "buy me a beer" donation Wordpress plugin software makers for example. It can also be argued that open source software products get the wider user base if the development is motivated by financial situmulus. For example - designing premium commercial Wordpress themes motivates the developer himself, it also increases the number of available themes/plugins for the Wordpress product and thereby increases the overall Wordpress market share.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Applicability of copying restrictions
The copying restrictions is the issue between the user and the producer. It is the free choise of a consumer these days whether or not he ties himself to some software producer because there are usually open source and free options available for any kind of software today. You can either use Microsoft Windows products or Mac and you can use either Microsoft Excel or Openoffice products.
The issue of copying restrictions is not therefore as critical as it used to be several years ago when internet was not around and the internet communities did not create open source software in such manner as they do it today.
The copying restrictions are not technically applicable in most cases today as cracked software is easy to make and use. It is more like an ethical issue - if you do not like that the product is licensed - then go and use some other companies open source software- however - if you like the capacity and features of the lienced product - then you need to allow to the terms attached to it.
The example of trust comes to mind when it was announced that Estonia´s biggest accounting software maker HansaRaama required from its clients the renewal of the software with the corresponding 2000 USD fee, otherwise they threatened to switch off the old versions ompletely. As scandal was coming to emerge they also played with reducing the prices ( initial 2000 USD changed to 500 USD in case of some clients who complained actively ). On the other hand the software maker warned their clients beforehand and on time that they do not intend use the old versions of their accounting software soon and therefore legally everything was correct from their part.
And it is difficult to imagine using open source software for accounting purposes these days - commercial versions are better and more suitable and they are updated often and the software is too country-specific and law-specific. Also it is easy to detect which accounting software is used for the companys balance sheet. You just need to choose the software product that can be trusted and the software producer who cares about you at the end of the day.
The issue of copying restrictions is not therefore as critical as it used to be several years ago when internet was not around and the internet communities did not create open source software in such manner as they do it today.
The copying restrictions are not technically applicable in most cases today as cracked software is easy to make and use. It is more like an ethical issue - if you do not like that the product is licensed - then go and use some other companies open source software- however - if you like the capacity and features of the lienced product - then you need to allow to the terms attached to it.
The example of trust comes to mind when it was announced that Estonia´s biggest accounting software maker HansaRaama required from its clients the renewal of the software with the corresponding 2000 USD fee, otherwise they threatened to switch off the old versions ompletely. As scandal was coming to emerge they also played with reducing the prices ( initial 2000 USD changed to 500 USD in case of some clients who complained actively ). On the other hand the software maker warned their clients beforehand and on time that they do not intend use the old versions of their accounting software soon and therefore legally everything was correct from their part.
And it is difficult to imagine using open source software for accounting purposes these days - commercial versions are better and more suitable and they are updated often and the software is too country-specific and law-specific. Also it is easy to detect which accounting software is used for the companys balance sheet. You just need to choose the software product that can be trusted and the software producer who cares about you at the end of the day.
Software licensing landscape in 2015
The software licensing landscape will the growth of open source software as it as happened in recent years.
The web software products like CMS will have couple of dominating open source CMS packages like Wordpress, Drupal and Typo3. Even today the White House uses Drupal web software for its home page and Estonia´s biggest energy produer Eesti Energia is using Typo3 for its web page engine. This means that the commercial CMS systems will loose the user base even more rapidly during the years 2010 - 2015 and the use of commercial web software becomes nonsense by 2015. The reason for this is mainly the fact that open source web software is improving and in many cases is better than commercial - largely due to the software developers commmunities who make new developments - plugins etc. Some plugins may have paid versions though.
The same applies to the other web software besides CMS - the web development tools, ftp tools, server software, development frameworks - open source will take over. For example - Dreamweaver which has been one of the leading web development tools until now will loose its market share and will have a minor user base by 2015 among the web development professionals.
On the other hand - the market of offline software remains basicly the same as it is today. For example the commercial closed source designers programs like Photoshop, CorelDraw or AutoCad will be also the major players in 2015 and they will also have the same market share. Thier products have become standard already and they are preferred by the niche profesionals. The price for this software is not so remarkable ( lets say 500 dollars ) if you compare the productivity of this software and the fact that it is a standard in the commercial field. Professionals will still pay the money for the good programs they have used for years and will start to use some new open source competitors if they arrive. For exmple the GIMP is the open source competitor to Photoshop but serious professionals still prefer Photoshop.
The web software products like CMS will have couple of dominating open source CMS packages like Wordpress, Drupal and Typo3. Even today the White House uses Drupal web software for its home page and Estonia´s biggest energy produer Eesti Energia is using Typo3 for its web page engine. This means that the commercial CMS systems will loose the user base even more rapidly during the years 2010 - 2015 and the use of commercial web software becomes nonsense by 2015. The reason for this is mainly the fact that open source web software is improving and in many cases is better than commercial - largely due to the software developers commmunities who make new developments - plugins etc. Some plugins may have paid versions though.
The same applies to the other web software besides CMS - the web development tools, ftp tools, server software, development frameworks - open source will take over. For example - Dreamweaver which has been one of the leading web development tools until now will loose its market share and will have a minor user base by 2015 among the web development professionals.
On the other hand - the market of offline software remains basicly the same as it is today. For example the commercial closed source designers programs like Photoshop, CorelDraw or AutoCad will be also the major players in 2015 and they will also have the same market share. Thier products have become standard already and they are preferred by the niche profesionals. The price for this software is not so remarkable ( lets say 500 dollars ) if you compare the productivity of this software and the fact that it is a standard in the commercial field. Professionals will still pay the money for the good programs they have used for years and will start to use some new open source competitors if they arrive. For exmple the GIMP is the open source competitor to Photoshop but serious professionals still prefer Photoshop.
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