[Fsf-friends] Some economic aspects of FOSS

[Praveen A]

Yesterday we had discussions about the FOSS model and its various
aspects. Tojin analysed the economic aspect and he says


---

There are so many people working in the proprietary software industry
and if there is only FOSS out there so many people are gonna lose
jobs. Now both proprietary and free software needs service and so the
effects cancels. The jobs of developers will not be there and the
economy suffers. He argues that only if the money changes hands the
country benifits. Also he thinks it is sinister about the way
GNU/Linux is distributed, he says it has made so complx that they need
to go to experts everytime.


He  is not thinking about the obvious advantages. In a country like
India we cannot afford to pay a huge amount of money on softwares.
They are completely ignoring the points of technical fitness of the
software developed. They still think of the FOSS as something like
this


>> A company develops a product and give away that for free (download)
and asks how the developers get money ?

They completely ignores that FOSS is a process not a product in which
lots of people around the world and it is centered around the end
user.
Other argument is that anyway we are getting windows and linux free
(pirated in case of windows) and all things that could be done with
windows can be done with windows and there is no point in moving away
from windows.

They don't think piracy is not a problem, as long as they don't come
to you and arrest they think they are safe. It is like you don't
hesitate to steal if you are sure you won't be cought. Also they
neglect the social aspect (but the former  point nullifies this).
Anyway you are ready to give it to your friend so the social aspect
doesn't matter anymore.

the discussion continues ....
Some one give me an answer to the economic aspect (the loss of jobs
and affecting the economy)
 
PS: You can join the discussion at LJ
http://www.livejournal.com/~pravi/7240.html
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