[Ilugc] Questions about Linux and Open Sources
- From: Sri.Prasanna@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Srinivasan Prasanna)
- Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 15:47:20 -0400
This is a mail from my good friend about few things on Linux and open
source. I do not have an expertise to answer him fully correct so I would
appreciate if some of you can give me suggestions/pointers/education to some
of his questions.
<quote from venkat>
I understand that I can explore from google to get details..
From my understanding..Opensource softwares (be it OS
or tool) are something which are available free of
cost and can be downloaded by anyone. (Correct me if I
am wrong )..Say if I develop a tool using PERL then
obviously the comp/end user need not shell a penny to
use it..Remember this is how UNIX started with and
companies (like SUN,HP) took the open source and added
utilities to come out with their own flavors of Unix
like Hp_unix,solaris etc..so Linux is on the same way,
isn't? If yes, why is so big hype on Linux alone? If
no, what & how Linux is diff..
and just becoz any comp can use my software with
paying anything..can I term it as opensource? (or is
it really somewhere the entire shell coding is
available for reading ) ..Even that be case, all we
can do is add some utilities to the existing
shell. Sorry to confuse u , but still I don't get what's
the big diff.
Is it just simple to say myself as 'Open source
programmer' if I start programming using freeware
software instead of prop ones..(like MS)..Well that
being the case,assuming 'open source' tomorrow takes
up the entiremarket..dont u think Microsoft or other
company wud make their softwares declared as
opensource and make it available free (just fr
survival atleast)..Then what will happen? Companies
who are existing clients will tend to stick on to
these enjoying more benefits rather than migrating to
new OS/tool..right?
anyway..I will consult with my friends too regarding
this to get something into my head.(too tough!;) )
thanks for igniting the spark ,though!
More later
Venkat
</quote>
Thanks a lot for your advises/replies.
Sri
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