Another marcher, Tim Sullivan, said the event is a chance for programmers to actively protect their right to code."I think this is a good chance to stand up for our freedoms," said Sullivan, 22, a computer science student at Oregon State University. "I'm not really a policy person, but it's pretty evident that it's ridiculous to stop people from writing software."
(from news.com)
Ummmmm, what? We're no longer going to be allowed to write software? What the hell kind of march was this? Were there T-Shirts commemorating "I was in a stupid pointless march that annoyed far more than it enlightened?". I wasn't aware that anyone's right to code was being taken away (and given my liberal conspiracy reading list, you'd think I'd hear
something), so why are people making quotes like this?
Start winning contracts and getting Open Source in place by
proving its value. And I mean serious proof! Saying "well, you can look and tinker with the source..." is not good enough.
Open Source can (and should) compete using issues such as licensing fees - if you do a $100,000 contract with the likes of Vignette or Oracle, the first $40,000 is spent on software alone.
Open Source can (and should) compete using solid numbers, facts, and proof of value. Show what, when, where, and how it's been used. The big companies can do it.
Open Source contractors should know that they're not being paid to tinker with the source - they have to deliver very strong results or face the possibility of being sued. It may sound strange, but it's a common case - if the government or some other large corporation signs a big deal with Oracle, there's a strange comfort in the fact that Oracle (or whomever) has big pockets and can be sued for not delivering promised results. The main point here is that - you must realize that it's more than politics, it's work and contracts. The people who seem most vocal in calling themselves the
Open Source Community seem to understand the business side of things the least. They either claim to be working towards a practically monetary-free utopia, or they just like to tinker and/or just don't like paying for software. The Big Companies know the business side (some have been taking a little too much advantage of it lately). They know what it means to deliver. They know what it means to lose. They know what it means to get sued. They know the stakes.
There are open source based companies making money off of contracts with governments and corporations, and some are in fact doing quite fine without the need for any stupid "some development policies are more equal than others" type laws.
And rights... Standing up for your right to code? Please. Fight a real
fight for rights:
Constitutional rights are meaningless if they do not apply equally to everyone, even Ted Bundy and Charlie Manson and Tim McVeigh, and even traitorous-high-ranking-al-Qaeda-dirty-bomb-plotting-except-as-it-turns-out-not-really gang members from Chicago. You either believe in our system of Constitutional protections or you don't, but there's nothing to debate here, especially when your strongest argument is, But he's a terrorist! I just know he is! There was never much doubt that Charlie Manson was a mass murderer--he still got a damn trial.