Gates on Open Source....

[KingBahamut]

I chuckled a little , from the CNET Interview discussed on /.


Looking at the open-source world, there's this movement away from selling licenses toward selling support. A lot of people are participating in that, and you have been skeptical. Why? Do you think that's fundamentally the wrong model?


Gates: The industry will always be a mix of free and commercial software. So there will be a balance between those. I think that we are going to have a lot of both. There are some zealots that think there should be no software jobs, that we should all, like, cut hair during the day and write code at night. Should you take some of those extreme views, I think it's easy to say that's not right. There are things like compatibility and 24-hour support and taking big leaps like IPTV or speech recognition. The painstaking work over a decade that you have to do, that costs hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. That's the commercial side. It's good at hiring people and selling licenses and taking the risks that go with that.

I've always believed in low-cost, high-volume. It should be a cost that's so obvious that you should spend, because it saves you on personnel time, hardware, communications costs, which are gigantic when compared to the price of packaged software. That cost is almost a rounding error. The value you get out of the system is a lot larger than that. I don't just believe in a single model. There's a lot of neat things that can be done. But I don't think that someone who completely gives up license fees is ever going to have a substantial R&D budget and do the hard things, the things too hard to do in a university environment. But that's OK. There will be a commercial software industry, hopefully, with companies that take the long-term approach and make the investments that drive those new breakthroughs.

[bob_c_b]

Nice of Bill to contiue characterizing F/OSS supporters as out-of-touch luddites while many of his best and brightest employees have left to join OSS-based companies over the last 2 years. Many former MS employees have commented that MS has lost it's ability to deliver software and finished products, so maybe a nice job at the barber shop is what Bill needs?

[Knome_fan]

What an idiot


There are some zealots that think there should be no software jobs, that we should all, like, cut hair during the day and write code at night.

Them evil zealots don't cut hairs!!!!!!11111oneoneone
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Richard_Matthew_Stallman.jpeg

[xequence]

I do aggree (scream!) with him in the fact that there needs to be commercial software. Theres nothing wrong with a company making money from software to me, just I ether wont buy it or ill download it. The thing is when he says
It should be a cost that's so obvious that you should spend, because it saves you on personnel time, hardware, communications costs, which are gigantic when compared to the price of packaged software.
makes me mad. WIndows isnt worth 130$ for the basic home version... ANd not another hundred on top for the professional version. Or like 4000$ for the server version! 30$ for home and 50 for pro would be acceptable... Or better yet, just have pro for 40$. And dont sell something to someone that limits what they can do. (DRM! If your HDTV movie isnt aproved as legal you will see it in really low resolution.)

[Perfect Storm]

*sigh*....Time to cut my hair...

[aysiu]

Apparently, Bill Gates doesn't realize you can actually charge for open source software...

[KingBahamut]

I've always believed in low-cost, high-volume

this is an utter and undenieable lie. More like High Cost, Billions of dollars worth of Volume.


It should be a cost that's so obvious that you should spend, because it saves you on personnel time, hardware, communications costs, which are gigantic when compared to the price of packaged software.

Personnel time - Bah, Microsoft should then soak up all the money spent on personnel for its failures to protect its userbase from viral infections that have costed many industries, including Uncle Sam, Billions of Dollars in man hours. Hardware - According to Gates, and Even Mcnealy at Sun, Hardware should be virtually free. Bill you gonna give me a computer for free if I buy your crappy OS? Communications Costs - Gates, you gonna give me Broadband access for free if I buy your fecal matter of an OS?.....dont hold your breath. Because really, if I buy your Horse Manure of an OS, and the additional 500 to 800 Dollars in software nessecary to be productice with it, Im still going to pay out in my time and energy all three points youve made above.

[BoyOfDestiny]

Oh well... This coming from the man who looked in the trash at his university to get some examples of code...

Here is the quote from Mr. Gates:

"The best way to prepare is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their operating systems."

Thank you open source. You reduce my trips to garbage cans. Darn ubuntu code of conduct... I'll just call him a charlaten.

Prediction for next Bill Gates related article... MS doesn't outsource tech jobs... HAHA

[Kvark]

He is right in that to cut hair during the day and write code at night just doesn't cut it for major projects like for example Ubuntu. But perhaps someone should inform him of that the Ubuntu devs and countless other devs who work with free software are getting paid.

[az]

Hey Bill! The point is the software is not property. You pay your programmers to make code and at the end of the day, they do not own it, you do.

FLOSS companies pay their programmers, too. And at the end of the day, the software is as every bit theirs as it is yours and mine. They get to keep the paycheck too!

[BWF89]

I don't just believe in a single model. There's a lot of neat things that can be done.
Than why dosn't Microsoft release some of their smaller programs into open source or public domain? Notepad, Wordpad, Paint, Calculator, and Solitare's source code could be set free without MS looseing a single cent. And it would make the company look good.

[OttoDestruct]

Than why dosn't Microsoft release some of their smaller programs into open source or public domain? Notepad, Wordpad, Paint, Calculator, and Solitare's source code could be set free without MS looseing a single cent. And it would make the company look good.

Because nobody honestly cares about those specific programs. Or - put it this way- nobody will run out and get it just because it says Microsoft. I much prefer gedit or kwrite, and any numerous paint programs. Calculator and solitaire? Yea because those are groundbreaking products, and it would be so awesome if MS released them in open source....

[N'Jal]

Paint VS GIMP which one whould u rather have OSS?

[escuchamezz]

Paint VS GIMP which one whould u rather have OSS?

neither, they're both CRAP [-X

[az]

neither, they're both CRAP [-X
Why bother posting this? If you have nothing productive to say, dont post.

[escuchamezz]

Why bother posting this? If you have nothing productive to say, dont post.

if the gimp developers read that then maybe it will be productive

[-Rick-]

if the gimp developers read that then maybe it will be productive
If you make a good suggestion, instead of saying its crap, I'm sure they will...

[xequence]

Accually, I like MS Paint. Quite a bit. It is a very good product in my opinion. The gimp is good but its just not comfortable to me...

If microsoft made paint open source and someone took it to linux id probably be quite happy ;)

[az]

Accually, I like MS Paint. Quite a bit. It is a very good product in my opinion. The gimp is good but its just not comfortable to me...

If microsoft made paint open source and someone took it to linux id probably be quite happy ;)

There are dozens of simple paint programs in universe.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/hoary/graphics/kolourpaint
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hoary/graphics/tkpaint
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hoary/graphics/tuxpaint
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hoary/graphics/xpaint

[aysiu]

Accually, I like MS Paint. Quite a bit. It is a very good product in my opinion. The gimp is good but its just not comfortable to me...

If microsoft made paint open source and someone took it to linux id probably be quite happy ;) Kolourpaint is just like MS Paint. Give it a shot. I know you don't dig KDE, but...