[plug] And now for something completely different? This one for Patrick. (-:

[Leon Brooks]

    http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33438

    In general, my sense has been that open source is "good." What
    I've had to question is whether that sense is driven by my
    selfishness - i.e. if I can get something without paying for
    it, that's good for me. Or is there a deeper sense of the
    "rightness" of the open source movement. In trying to justify
    my opinion, I naturally considered the early New Testament
    church. As described in Acts 4:32 "And the congregation of
    those who believe were of one heart and soul; and not one of
    them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but
    all things were common property to them." Does this mean that
    the early church was socialistic?

    [...]

    So-called "experts" may find fault with Dennis' definitions,
    but I found them very helpful.

    * "Socialism has one supreme goal: to make everyone dependent
      on the state and to eliminate risk."

    * "Capitalism has one supreme goal and that is profit."

    * "Kingdom economics is focused on empowering people to be
      who God has created them to be." 

    Dennis goes on to say that a focus on kingdom economics will
    be blessed and will result in wealth. In his book Doing
    Business God's Way, Dennis points to Sam Walton of Wal-Mart
    as an example of someone focused on empowering people to
    build a successful and profitable business.

    Given these definitions, the open source model does not
    follow socialism. It has nothing to do with making people
    dependent on the state - on the contrary, the open software
    model is focused on freedom from the types of legal
    constraints often imposed by the state. 

    The reason people get bent out of shape about Linux and
    open source and claim it is socialistic is because it also
    clearly does not follow capitalism. It does not have the
    primary goal of creating profit.

    [...]

[and the punch line]

    In fact, the open source movement may come closer to God's
    model for operating a business than anything in the
    corporate world! Jesus modeled this to His disciples and
    He explained it to them shortly before his arrest: "No
    longer do I call you slaves [he uses a business
    relationship term], for the slave does not know what his
    master is doing; but I have called you friends… You did
    not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that
    you would go and bear fruit." (John 15:15-16).

Cheers; Leon