Religion of OSS
Maybe it’s just me, but the more I read on javalobby.org the more I am being turned off of open source software. There are several individuals who are trying to hijack the website to get their message about OSS out. The message they are trying to broadcast to anyone who will, or will not listen, is that OSS is the only kind of software that is worth while using. Rubbish!!!
One prime example is this post regarding helping to test a new plugin for Netbeans that imports Eclipse projects. The first comment blasts Netbeans for not being totally open source:
The Netbeans IDE is not fully open source. The following (which are included in the source download) use the Binary Code License (BCL) which are closed-source licenses:
* XML Parser v.1.1 (jaxp and parser)
* JavaHelp v.2.0
* JavaC Compiler
…
When building from source you must accept these Binary Code Licenses to compile the IDE.
Now thankfully, the author of the comment was properly lambasted. However, the attitude still remains. I have seen this outside of the Java world as well. This religous zealotry that states that only OSS is worth using. If you use anything else then you are somehow less … Less what I am not sure.
I am very tired of this attitude. I am tired of the religion of OSS. I use OSS software. I also use closed source software. I use whatever will get the job done the best. I use Eclipse and Netbeans and if I could afford it, I would also use IntelliJ IDEA. I also own a copy of Visual Studio .NET along with Macromedia Studio MX. Does this somehow make me a bad person? My server runs Mandrake Linux and I am installing Gentoo onto a computer just for fun. However, my main computer runs Windows XP and so does my notebook. Am I somehow a second rate computer user because of this?
One thing I would like to know is how much does this ferver for OSS come from a true desire for all software to be open source or from a simple desire to get high quality free software? I would love to know how many of these zealots have ever contributed to an OSS project, filed a bug report, or written documentation for a project on sourceforge.net?
Open source software is about choice. Well that means that I have the choice to use it or not. I have the choice to use OSS or proprietory software. I still like OSS, hey I like free as much as the next person, but I am going to allow people the choice. After all, its only software.
