February 8, 2010
Copying Opensource Codes For Making Money?
When already so much work has been done in opensource, and almost an alternative of everything is present for free, even some freebies are better than the paid products, so why can’t this happen that Microsot copies the source code of Mozilla Firefox, make some changes, and go ahead than firefox. No one will ever know what Microsoft did, since they will not reveal their code. This will save a lot of revenue of Microsoft, I guess.
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Comments on Copying Opensource Codes For Making Money? »
A possible main reaason that this has not been done is the somewhat dishonesty and the fact that microsoft already has its own software.
This could possibly raise legal issues as well.
no offense to anyone
Mostly because most opensource stuff is released under a license that expressly prohibits it, so if Microsoft tried that, they’d get a nice letter from somebody’s lawyer saying that Microsoft was infringing on their client’s copyrights in the software.
And the mere fact that the source code isn’t released doesn’t mean that you can’t tell it was copied – a knowledgable forensics expert can even look at the resulting binaries and tell that the code was copied. And it turns out that there’s only 2 real options if you’re trying to steal code:
1) Steal huge portions of the program- or even the *entire* program – for instance, many manufacturers have tried to stick a copy if the Linux operating system on their devices (which is legal) without fulfilling the GPL open-source requirements (which is *not* OK). Yep, the whole entire kernel. And yes, it’s usually pretty obvious that it’s a Linux kernel and not RTOS or BSD or something non-GPL. Busted.
2) Try to obfuscate the code and/or steal small chunks of it to put in your own software. This usually ends up being even more difficult than just writing your own code – which is why the stealers get busted when somebody finds things like the exact same text for error messages and so on in the binary….
open source has strict rules you have to adhere to unless you want to get sued and that is not a way established companies want to see their name in media – microsoft does not want it either – basically ANY commercial profit from open source community is excluded in general (there are exemptions – they can charge if they send CD or DVD but can’t for downloading material) – open source companies make money selling support and services