The Open Source Attacks

Generally speaking you have to feel good about open source. It is amazing that people will work on projects for the love of it. It is even more amazing when big companies get involved. The idea is that open source enables them to build things that would have otherwise taken much more effort and they get benefits like community support and a general feel good factor.
Recently the feel good factor has been a little tarnished as a new phenomena comes to light - when open source projects are used against the companies that sponsor them.
Lets take a look at two high profile cases, both involving Google.
Android would not have been possible without both Linux and Java. Linux provided the operating system base and Java the language base. This is not to say that Google didn't do much. Google had to integrate the system, make it work and then elaborate on the facilities provided.
You cannot deny that Google has worked hard to make Android a workable and usable mobile operating system and environment but.. imagine the task without Linux or Java. It would have been next to impossible to build a complete operating system and language infrastructure from scratch.
One of the less appreciated advantages of open source is that it allows companies to build on earlier efforts by diverse sets of entities. Without Linux and Java who could afford to create a new operating system? In a world without open source the cost of getting off the starting blocks would be much higher. It is arguable that the only companies who could launch new operating systems are the few who already had operating systems available to modify and extend.
Consider for a moment that Apple built both OSX and iOS from open source - Unix. The only problem is that the license (BSD) didn't specify that changes had to be made open source and so Apple can keep its wares hidden from the outside world and declines to offer anything as a starting point for someone else - even though it does contribute some code back to the open source community.
A company can take some open source software and create something new. Most of what they create might have to open sources in turn but this is something that can be tolerated. After all what generally happens is that the community pitches in and lends a hand and it all seems so much better than having them just complain at you for bugs and missing features.

What usually doesn't happen is that your rivals borrow the software, modify it a bit and bring it out as a competitor. The reason is usually that there is, as any good Ferengi will tell you, no profit in it. After all you are giving away your "product" and any profit you are making is on the services and improved versions you sell. If anyone is going to muscle in on your territory it is companies providing support for your product and overall this too can be tolerated.
However, there are exceptions to the rule. If you build some software to help you deliver a service to your customers then the whole game changes and open source can bite the hand that created it.
Consider for a moment the Android operating system.

TERIMA KASIH ATAS KUNJUNGAN SAUDARA
Semoga artikel ini bermanfaat bagi saudara. Jika ingin mengutip, baik itu sebagian atau keseluruhan dari isi artikel ini harap menyertakan link dofollow ke http://apk-xda.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-open-source-attacks.html. Terima kasih sudah singgah membaca artikel ini.