I actually have no idea as to who will win this war. It seems like everyday someone new comes out, gets up on their soapbox, and declares that both Microsoft and closed source, proprietory software is dead. Or will be in the next X number of years. At one point in time I believed these people and even evangelised about the power and might of open soure software to anyone who would listen. But was I right? I really don’t know anymore.I take a look at the whole open source software field and I have to admit that there are some winners — Apache, MySQL, Linux, OpenOffice.org, etc. However, the number of mediocre or redundant applications far outway the number of winners.
And to be totally honest in this debate, the programs that I would have to list as my all time favorite are all proprietory — Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, InDesign, Maya, Softimage XSI, Combustion, etc. I may not use these programs on a daily basis, but no one can deny that they are at the top of their field. And so far, no open source application has come close to equalling the capabilities of the programs listed above.
Now granted, there are a few apps that are making the transistion from open source projects to accepted industry programs. Actually, the only one I can think of right now is FilmGimp (or whatever its new name is). However, Disney and their partners still petitioned Adobe to port Photoshop over to Linux so that it would fully integrate into their development environment and when that failed they personally engineered CrossOver office so that Photoshop 7 would run as stable on linux as it does on OS X. Why? Because there is simply no other program that can touch the capabilities and functionality of Photoshop.
For the past 4 months I have been conducting a personal test of the three biggest word processing programs on the market — WordPerfect 11, Word XP, and OpenOffice.org 1.1 — to see which one I prefer using. WordPerfect very quickly died a horrible death and was put out of its misery. Actually, the program did not die, I just could not get used to the way that it worked and found it to be more of a hinderance than a help. That left Word and OOo. I am very sad to say that the overall winner in this little trial was Word. Although, each had their strong points and it was a very slim win for Microsoft in the end. The thing, I think, that tipped the scales in Word’s favor were two things: (1) OOo took way to long to save documents and when you are trying to take notes in class this can be a big deal. (2) Word turned out be easier and more intuitive to use. It was also more flexible in the way that it worked. The biggest thing were bullets. I simply prefer the way that Word handles bullets. (Granted, this was a highly subjective test, but then isn’t all software selection subjective?!?)
The point to this long winded diatribe is still the question: What will happen to free software in the end? I just think that the open source / free software movement sits on the brink of some form of radical change. I am not sure if this is the end of free software or the explosion of free software, but I do know that it will be interesting to watch what developes over the next few years.
What is so very wrong with proprietory software? I personally think that Adobe, Macromedia, Discreet, Alias, Softimage, Side Effects and a host of other software developers create amazing, top of their class software applications. And each of these applications is closed source.
I guess in short, this little treatise is really about me questioning my own zealot views on open source software. If this continues, I may even begin to like some of Microsoft’s software. (Actually, I have to admit that I love some of their software, just not their licensing policies.) Hmmm… Maybe what we really need to be fighting is the licensing policies of some of these software companies and not the software itself?