Enterprise open source Toolkit

Story: MPs: Open source faces exclusion in schools

• 
• 

Straight out of Winnersh Triangle

"..But they have a passion. It's a religion, it's a real belief, and again they have a belief about bits of technology that are going to change things. What they don't do, however, is organise things properly."

I wonder if Mr. Pindar thinks believing in democracy is a religion? How about a belief in the importance of habeas corpus or the need for a declaration of universal human rights?

It is irresponsible and deliberately misleading to compare the convictions of Open Source advocates to religious fanaticism.

Open Source is about acknowledging that the business model for proprietary software encourages monopolistic business practices and wanting to do something about it.

Commercial monopolies *of any kind* stifle competition and limit consumer choice. To encourage monopolies, as the governments of the eastern bloc did for so many years, restricts the development of society itself. This is particularly true of software which we rely on so completely in our daily lives.

There are numerous, credible Open Source businesses around the UK and EU. In fact there is a substantial amount of European Commission money going into projects that are developing the EU eco-system around OSS. The UK government should be encouraging the growth of the Open Source industry not paying lip service to it and wasting everyone's time.

Mr. Pindar's views would not be out of place in the leafy business parks of Winnersh Triangle.

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

Full Talkback thread