EC rebuffs Microsoft over open-source report
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/EC rebuffs Microsoft over open-source report yawn
yawn
Methinks you need to get some sleep.
Sorry, I just find this kind of thing really dull. :)
Sorry, I just find this kind of thing really dull. :)
Well don't read it then :)
It does raise the question as to what impact open source software will have on programming as a profession. Will we see a time within the next few years where programming skills are undermined by the open source movement to the extent that businesses will not be prepared to hire programmers for what would be considered a reasonable rate? Will we see programmers working for minimum rate in the future?
An over the top exageration of what could be - but possibly not.
An over the top exageration of what could be - but possibly not.
> It does raise the question as to what impact open source software will have on programming as a profession.
It's already happening, generally speaking the rate a programmer can expect to make will go down. System analysts should still do well, but there are no nearly as much need for them. At least for the short term this is not a problem, there is plenty of work making various open source products work together to keep programs busy for a good while.
It's already happening, generally speaking the rate a programmer can expect to make will go down. System analysts should still do well, but there are no nearly as much need for them. At least for the short term this is not a problem, there is plenty of work making various open source products work together to keep programs busy for a good while.
I have seen situations where it's hard to justify bespoke software over free, open source software, especially to a computer illiterate person. Some open source software is really good and definitely as good as it's commercial competitors and some (*cough* osCommerce) is a big pile of donkey poo.
Taking osCommerce as an example, the customer doesn't care that it's a big mess of code that follows no decent structure and has been held together with spittle and sour milk, they just care that it does what they want and it's free (and therefore all they should be paying you for is implementing it).
Taking osCommerce as an example, the customer doesn't care that it's a big mess of code that follows no decent structure and has been held together with spittle and sour milk, they just care that it does what they want and it's free (and therefore all they should be paying you for is implementing it).
Well don't read it then :)
I didn't. :) I shouldn't have posted at all, really - I was bored. :P I agree. With the new EC report, I can see more people and businesses cutting back on investment into software. It's not quite right to be put out of a job by people who write software for a hobby and have other jobs of their own though :-S
Since the free open source software movement is pretty well held up by the costly software people, I don't see Game Boy's predictions happening.
Look at Torvalds. He knows what he's doing and he gets paid for it!
It's all about having a happy medium, and I think it is very possible if not already happening right now.
Some types of software only really do one thing (and yet have billions of horribly made clones bouncing around), and so is better replaced by a single open source alternative. For one thing, when that single replacement is open source then somebody won't quickly build yet another competing product as soon as they find something wrong with what they were using.
There is also lots of software that is required to build software, like your operating system and your web browser. That stuff also doesn't really change, so may as well try to have an integrated and free solution.
On the other hand, there are the products of that stuff. Games, 3D modelling tools, image editors. I have noticed open source software for the most part staying out of that realm.
There are a few games, but they are generally awful (unless you count the numerous excellent free mods on the Source engine).
The only really well-known open source 3D modelling tool is Blender, and that thing is, while a completely competent and stable modelling / rendering tool, absolutely abysmally made from the outside to the point that I (and probably many others) really do not want to see it on the inside.
Then, of course, there is GIMP. It's an image editor, and it has worked pretty well, but it really comes nowhere near Photoshop or other proprietary image editors.
So my thought on the matter is that open source has its place for building blocks. I don't think that many people want to give away all of their work for any big, single-handed products which are made more and more easy to do thanks to free software.
Look at Torvalds. He knows what he's doing and he gets paid for it!
It's all about having a happy medium, and I think it is very possible if not already happening right now.
Some types of software only really do one thing (and yet have billions of horribly made clones bouncing around), and so is better replaced by a single open source alternative. For one thing, when that single replacement is open source then somebody won't quickly build yet another competing product as soon as they find something wrong with what they were using.
There is also lots of software that is required to build software, like your operating system and your web browser. That stuff also doesn't really change, so may as well try to have an integrated and free solution.
On the other hand, there are the products of that stuff. Games, 3D modelling tools, image editors. I have noticed open source software for the most part staying out of that realm.
There are a few games, but they are generally awful (unless you count the numerous excellent free mods on the Source engine).
The only really well-known open source 3D modelling tool is Blender, and that thing is, while a completely competent and stable modelling / rendering tool, absolutely abysmally made from the outside to the point that I (and probably many others) really do not want to see it on the inside.
Then, of course, there is GIMP. It's an image editor, and it has worked pretty well, but it really comes nowhere near Photoshop or other proprietary image editors.
So my thought on the matter is that open source has its place for building blocks. I don't think that many people want to give away all of their work for any big, single-handed products which are made more and more easy to do thanks to free software.
It does raise the question as to what impact open source software will have on programming as a profession.
None. If you can#t compete against Open Source Products, get out of the game. It's already happening, generally speaking the rate a programmer can expect to make will go down.
This is because of globalization. When you can pay 1/10th for software developed by Indian, Polish or Chinese programmers, and sell it for the same price to western markets - it's practically free money.You can't compete on salary or materials - so you need to go further down the value chain, and compete with something else. Like quality and suport. Which is perfect for Open Source.
If you can#t compete against Open Source Products, get out of the game.
For the moment, it's not a problem; but this could change in the future if it becomes the trend to use open source.
You can't compete on salary or materials - so you need to go further down the value chain, and compete with something else. Like quality and suport. Which is perfect for Open Source.
Or Simply move to India :-D
> Or Simply move to India
I recently read an article where India is already feeling the heat from other countries that have even lower wages. China is sticking in my head but I don't think that was it.
I recently read an article where India is already feeling the heat from other countries that have even lower wages. China is sticking in my head but I don't think that was it.
For the moment, it's not a problem; but this could change in the future if it becomes the trend to use open source.
Yes, if you insist on fighting it. Yes, if you insist on fighting it.
What do you expect developers to do? Work for free? lol
> What do you expect developers to do? Work for free? lol
Free, or near enough as makes no difference. Just ask any blue coller worker in the US - while you can still find them.
Free, or near enough as makes no difference. Just ask any blue coller worker in the US - while you can still find them.
What do you expect developers to do?
Change. Work for free?
Why would you need to work for free? What do you expect developers to do?
Change.
Work for free?
Why would you need to work for free?
Change.
Work for free?
Why would you need to work for free?
The best product has always been the one that does what the person wants for the most value for money, if your product doesnt fit that niche then choose another product or change the product so it fits the niche.
Loads of programmers churn out things that have already been done just changing a few bits of the product and hoping nobody will notice. It takes a good programmer to break the mould and look outside the box then come up with something special. We can see it here all the time look how many FPS/Tetris games there are available atm.
The blender foundation(for example) seems to make enough, from the sale of manuals, CDs, merchandise, donations, advertising on its website etc,
I reckon the only people who suffer from OSource are the big corporate bodies (and those employed by them, i guess thats the bad part), as theres nothing to stop indie programmers & small sw companies writing sofware (esp. games), plugins, utilities and mods to sell. Even on linux theres commercial software(mostly shareware) and it sells too.
No wonder MS wants it buried :)
I reckon the only people who suffer from OSource are the big corporate bodies (and those employed by them, i guess thats the bad part), as theres nothing to stop indie programmers & small sw companies writing sofware (esp. games), plugins, utilities and mods to sell. Even on linux theres commercial software(mostly shareware) and it sells too.
No wonder MS wants it buried :)
Last time I checked, open source was competing most in the back-end department, which means products like operating systems, database servers, programming languages. I don't know many guys working on that sort of stuff personally. I guess if you work at Microsoft or Oracle you might be worried.
The same sort of market that exists now will still exist. Not many places can just install Joomla and run with it. You'll still need people working the backend, probably people doing templates, obviously people doing design. Stuff like Joomla doesn't cover everyone's needs out of the box. There aren't closed source products that cover everyone's needs by the same token. Much of my work over the last few years has been in working with closed source products to customise them for a customer's needs.
I work with commercial offerings in much the same way I work with open source ones. I still do admin on Windows servers as I do with Linux ones. I still develop in PHP and .Net. For me it makes little difference really.
As for those open source products, many of the developers are in fact sponsored or salaried in some way. Many businesses pay people to develop open source stuff to fit their needs.
Just because the software is given away free doesn't mean people can't make money out of it.
The same sort of market that exists now will still exist. Not many places can just install Joomla and run with it. You'll still need people working the backend, probably people doing templates, obviously people doing design. Stuff like Joomla doesn't cover everyone's needs out of the box. There aren't closed source products that cover everyone's needs by the same token. Much of my work over the last few years has been in working with closed source products to customise them for a customer's needs.
I work with commercial offerings in much the same way I work with open source ones. I still do admin on Windows servers as I do with Linux ones. I still develop in PHP and .Net. For me it makes little difference really.
As for those open source products, many of the developers are in fact sponsored or salaried in some way. Many businesses pay people to develop open source stuff to fit their needs.
Just because the software is given away free doesn't mean people can't make money out of it.