I think you might be mistaking the slow going of a giant effective monopoly for standard behaviour at all proprietory firms, large and small.
Hmmm... I did consider that but considered the behaviour more appropriate not to the size of the company but the way that information is held. Not to say that that large companies do have a slow turning circle. Indeed, one of their main strengths is stability.
(Although Ralph Nader's famous book "Unsafe at Any Speed" does come to mind in this discussion).
What you say about the desktop user interface is very true as well, which is why each incarnation of MS Windows has been less and less of a success for the end user (remember the end-user wails when MS-Windows 2000 was transformed to the new XP interface? and now - technical considerations aside - with Vista?).
At some point, even a FOSS programmer wants a job where his skills will help him pay the rent. Donations are irregular and won't cover it.
Sure. Many FOSS projects are sponsored by large companies as a result (IBM and Novell are two that immediately come to mind).
The model we discussed with arjen_lentz was the "skim off the top" model, which I think does have a degree of economic legitimacy. Basically value-add to an existing OSS project, make it worth your while in recompense, and then make it public. Indeed arjen pointed out that many organisations he ecounters are insisting on use of FOSS.
no subject
I think you might be mistaking the slow going of a giant effective monopoly for standard behaviour at all proprietory firms, large and small.
Hmmm... I did consider that but considered the behaviour more appropriate not to the size of the company but the way that information is held. Not to say that that large companies do have a slow turning circle. Indeed, one of their main strengths is stability.
(Although Ralph Nader's famous book "Unsafe at Any Speed" does come to mind in this discussion).
What you say about the desktop user interface is very true as well, which is why each incarnation of MS Windows has been less and less of a success for the end user (remember the end-user wails when MS-Windows 2000 was transformed to the new XP interface? and now - technical considerations aside - with Vista?).
At some point, even a FOSS programmer wants a job where his skills will help him pay the rent. Donations are irregular and won't cover it.
Sure. Many FOSS projects are sponsored by large companies as a result (IBM and Novell are two that immediately come to mind).
The model we discussed with