[plug] SA open source bill

[Luke Dudney]

I have a similar take on the situation, with one key divergence. This is
not an exclusive law. It promotes the benefits of access to the source
code for accountability, security etc. Vendors that do not disclose
their source code do so at their own prerogative but inso doing are
putting themself at a disadvantage should this bill become law. If they
wish to put themself on a level playing field, they have the option of
releasing their source code. I do not see any conflict with commercial
software and open source -- although I guess that comes down to your
definition of "open".

I totally agree that we should be pushing for open protocol and file
format laws before we start pushing for open source laws. This puts
everyone on a level playing field which would mean the best tech wins,
not the proprietary but industry standard tech.

Cheers
Luke

On Wed, 2003-06-18 at 12:40, Simon Scott wrote:
> In my view, the bill is anti-competitive.
> 
> For a group of people who love freedom, Im surprised so many Linux guys
> support this sort of exclusion written into law.
> 
> The best tech should win - simple as that. I know its a naive view, because
> many deals are done by non-tech folk with kickbacks etc, but that is more of a
> issue of accountability than anything.
> 
> Laws promoting or demanding open protocols and file formats are infinitely
> better IMHO. All they would do is remove false barriers to entry, the very
> reason that Word and Excel are still so prevalent on the desktop.
> 
>