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Beware ye who use software from the Big Bodgy Software Company, or any other
commercial software from any company, and who dare to critcise the company or
its software.

Bret Busby
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A U G U S T   1 8,   1 9 9 9 

                                
                               AS THE SOFTWARE industry cracks down on its
                               customers, the software itself is opening up.
Open
                               Source software, the freely available alternative
to
                               commercial software, is making inroads in the
                               corporate world because of its superior
flexibility,
                               adaptability, and cost. Despite this competition,
the
                               commercial software industry has decided that
                               now's the time to make licensed software less
                               flexible, less adaptable, and above all, more
                               expensive. A proposed new law, called the Uniform
                               Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)
                               would give software manufacturers enormous new
                               powers to raise prices and to control their
software
                               even after it is in the hands of their customers.
By
                               giving the software industry additional leverage
over
                               its customers, UCITA will have two principal
                               effects: first, it will turn software from a
product you
                               buy to a service you pay for again and again.
Second,
                               its restrictions will greatly accelerate the
corporate
                               adoption of Open Source software. 


                               All trade groups aspire to become like OPEC, the
                               cartel that jacks up oil prices by controlling
supply.
                               The UCITA working group is no exception: UCITA is
                               designed to allow software companies relief from
                               competition (companies could forbid publishing
the
                               results of software comparisons), and to
artificially
                               limit supply (any company which was acquired by a
                               larger company could be forced to re-license all
its
                               software). The most startling part of UCITA,
though,
                               is the smugly named "self-help" clause, which
would
                               allow a software company to remotely disable
                               software at the customer's site, even after it
has
                               been sold. This clause could be invoked with only
15
                               days notice if a software developer felt its
licensing
                               terms were being violated, making the customer
                               guilty until proven innocent. UCITA's proponents
                               disingenuously suggest that the use of
"self-help"
                               would be rare, as it would make customers unhappy
                               -- what they are not as quick to point out is
that the
                               presence of "self-help" as a credible threat
would
                               give software companies permanent leverage over
                               their customers in negotiating all future
contracts.

                               Unfortunately for cartel-minded software firms,
the
                               OPEC scenario is elusive because software isn't
                               like oil. Software has no physical scarcity, and
the
                               people who know how to create good software can't
                               be isolated or controlled the way oil wells can.
                               Where UCITA sets out to make software a
                               controlled substance, the Open Source movement
                               sets out to take advantage of software's innate
                               flexibility of distribution. By making software
freely
                               available and freely modifiable, Open Source
takes
                               advantage of everything UCITA would limit -- Open
                               Source software is easy to get, easy to modify,
and
                               easy to share. If UCITA becomes law, the
difference
                               between Open Source and commercial software will
                               become even more stark. Expect Open Source to do
                               very well in these circumstances.

                               Economics 101 tells us that people make economic
                               decisions "on the margin" -- a calculation not of
                               total worth to total cost, but of additional
worth for
                               additional cost. For someone who wants a watch
for
                               telling time but not for status, for example, the
                               choice between a $20 Timex and a $20,000 Rolex is
                               clear -- the $19,980 marginal cost of the Rolex
                               knocks it out of the running. In the case of Open
                               Source vs. commercial software, the differences
in
                               cost can be equally vast -- in many cases (such
as
                               the Apache web server) the Open Source solution
is
                               both cheaper and better. Cartels only work if
there is
                               no competition, a fact the UCITA group seems not
to
                               have grasped. If UCITA becomes law -- that could
                               happen as soon as December -- the commercial
                               software industry will be sending its customers
                               scrambling for Linux, Apache, and the other Open
                               Source products faster than they already are. 

                               Clay Shirky is a contributing editor at FEED and
                               Professor of Media Studies at Hunter College. 
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