IP: Comments on the ADTI report released today

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 11:11:13 -0400
To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
Cc: <declan () well com>
Subject: Comments on the ADTI report released today


A few comments regarding the just-released 31-page report on Open Source
Software from the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.

http://www.adti.net/html_files/defense/opensource_debate.html

This thing reads like an undergraduate term paper. Very little is spent
talking about OSS and 'security'  -- as their press release full of
'terrorism' jargon hinted at last week -- rather, most of the paper talks
about the economic impact that OSS presents to the country and software
industry, intellectual property theft, innovation, legal interpretations,
etc. As a result of such FUD-inducing hysteria, it's probably - and sadly -
going to get widespread media coverage....incidentially, the actual report
is entitled "Opening the Open Source Debate"

The report fails to acknowledge that any software has problems - and that
closed-source software (eg, Microsoft) has been plagued with such issues.
Further, it does not acknowledge that the majority of IT-related events,
incidents, and vulnerabilities making headlines in recent years were NOT
caused by OSS or GPL'd products, but from closed-source proprietary code.

The report - especially its 7 concluding points read like a summary of
Microsoft's courtroom testimony and "freedom to innovate" spin of recent
years. Bottom line....this report says GPL bad, Closed-Source good.

I wonder how much money Redmond paid to this group for this fear-mongering
tripe.

rick
infowarrior.org


------ End of Forwarded Message

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