Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (303 mails)

[Christopher Dawkins <cchd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 [quotes not fully attributed as I have edited them]

>>> How does open source get created.  Where do these people get
>>> the time?
>>
>> If you don't know the answer to that question then you shouldn't
>> be on this list
>
>  I am on this list ;-)  I still don't know the answer.

The list is open to all. I am sure Colin actually knows the answer,
although it took me many years to work it out. I wrote a private paper
last year in an (unsuccessful) attempt to explain it to someone who I
wanted to persuade to make his software available for free. What I wrote
is on

    http://www.felsted.essex.sch.uk/~cchd/software.html

and I reckon the dynamics are unstoppable for items of sofware small
enough to be encompassed by one person. I still do not completely
understand how the economics are sustainable in the long term for large
items (such as Linux, Apache, Mozilla and OpenOffice) that need a team of
full-time programmers.

But there is no evidence that the Microsoft model is sustainable in the
long term, either - indeed, there are several likely calamity scenarios
for that model anyway.

-- 
Christopher Dawkins, Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex  CM6 3JG
01371-822698, mobile 07816 821659    cchd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx