[dba-Tech] For web developers

Hi Hans:

I would never advocate a domination of one product or another but the
situation that existed with Microsoft holding 95 percent of the computer
market was not a health one...innovation slowed and basically stopped and
when the company arbitrarily choose a direction, it did not necessarily
support its loyal techs or its customers.

Neither, would I consider the OSS market as the only alternative or should
we expect that this section of the market be free. Making donations toward
keeping a product available, through various startups or via direct
donations should become more of an obligation and a responsibility. OTOH,
many large businesses sponsor various OSS products for the purposes of
extending knowledge of their own premium products, gaining access to cutting
edge of creativity, innovation and being able to create profit centers using
product support and custom designs. So hardly are these OSS products
development just a write-off or charity; they are more like a low cost
Research and Development centers.

The healthiest market is one where there are numerous products each capable
of making a good profit with opportunities for all. For all its ups and
downs the last few years have been one of the best market cycles for a long
time. The downside is there is no obvious and clear direction that a tech
should follow as any path is uncertain.

Jim 

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Hans-Christian
Andersen
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 3:49 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] For web developers

I do not subscribe to this theory. I'm a big open source advocate, but I do
not think its a good idea for open source to dominate the world. There is a
role for proprietary software, which is to be the premium product that
customers are willing to pay for. The point of open source is to be the
counter balance to proprietary software, so that we so not end up with a
monopoly situation, like we had with Microsoft and Oracle etc, because
monopolies are highly inefficient and ends up stagnating, while trying to
extract every last dime that it can. That is what corporations do. They
can't help it. They have a fedutiary responsibility to make more money.

And that's why you need that counter balance, because what incentive do
these companies then have to continue investing in R&D and making their
products better once they have cornered the market?

If Apple does not continue to provide the best experience for consumers and
stagnate, then people will switch over to the next best thing.

And, keep in mind that the open source world has its fiefdoms as well and is
also prone to being used as a means to an end. Sure, android is open source,
but google is not an open source company. They open sourced android as a
means of getting market share, but don't ever expect them to open spice
their search engine and google ads. ha!


- Hans