

Encouraging open source could land you in trouble - edw519
http://www.technollama.co.uk/encouraging-open-source-could-land-you-in-trouble

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pyre
I think that the crux of their argument is that if people are 'used' to
getting software for free it will erode their perception of software being
something that you pay for, and in general, erode people's willingness to pay
for other types of intellectual property.

But at it's most basic level this argument boils down to, "if you use company
X's product, then you might not see any value in company Y's product;
therefore company X's product should be banned because it is limiting the
marketplace." In this case, they are painting things with a broader stroke by
seemingly bringing up some sort of 'Open Source' vs 'Closed Source' argument,
but the main point still stands. They are saying that because Open Source
takes away profits from Closed Source companies that it must be eliminated,
which is ludicrous.

They may put on a veneer, of claiming that they just want a level playing
field, but it seems to me that they just don't want anyone inside of the
government to have a preference against them (or be a champion for their
competitors). Why? Not because of some sort of free-market-lets-join-hands-
and-sing Libertarian nonsense. They feel that they can win government
contracts when there is no one speaking out for Open Source because then their
sales people don't have any competition when marketing their products to the
government.

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jacquesm
Not using open source as a government entity should get you in to trouble.
Using open source should get you promoted. But since there is no 'open source'
graft fund to grease the palms the open source movement within governments is
for the most part still limited to those countries that simply can't pay.

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ekiru
Before now, I hadn't realized that some people believe that loading a
copyrighted work into RAM should be legally considered to be a reproduction of
said work...

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xtho
Not just "some people" but law makers and lawyers.

