I've had to pay out a substantial amount of money to get the Office package from Microsoft so I could install it on my sisters PC. Even with student discount it was quite painful. That was before I found out about Open Office. I had no idea I could have benefited from this free software that is operates exactly like Office, but without the price tag.
If we look at the open source movement I can see the benefits for people like myself who cannot really afford to shell out money on new operating systems and software packages. Debates rage on about whether copyright eliminates consumer choice, and though I recognize it is important to acknowledge the author of a program (as it’s important to recognize the author of a novel) does it really benefit the consumers? Are the authors really getting their fare share of the sales at the end of the day, or are the companies marketing and selling the product taking most of the profit? I believe that they are and that copyright does not indeed aid the progression of science or art.
Steve Bellmer who is the CEO at Microsoft has been quoted as saying that "Linux is a cancer" as it is a free operating system that rivals Microsoft. I have a few friends who run on
(Linux) and to me it's not as user friendly as Microsoft, but the fact that it comes at no expense gives it major brownie points. Companies are now quick to sue others over intellectual property rights, but can you honestly own an idea? Many people are capable of having the same idea and I don't think it's fair to prosecute on those grounds. An idea cannot be owned. In the States smaller companies have to argue "fair use" to be able to get away with using someone else’s published work.
This summer I've set myself the personal project of building my own computer, so I can better understand how they work. I'll also be using all the free software I can get my hands on to run the computer. I think companies already exploit their consumers too much, and that’s why I'd rather have an android phone where the apps might not be as high quality but they will be free. I believe ideas should be free and anything realised into the public domain you should be able to use to create other things otherwise what’s the point of publishing it? I'd like to think that Sweden will shortly be following Brazil's example and the open source movement will gain global momentum.
No comments:
Post a Comment