Hello,
Open Software concept is more a philosophical issue, that describes an alternative economical model to the usual, (currently) dominant one. It's probably not a good idea to start a discussion on this topic within the frame of comp-f90 list, since this kind of discussion has generally no end :-)
However, to come back on the original problem: compiling on Tru64 and exporting binaries to Linux. Sure that "people have the rights to protect
their intellectual property and distribute software under whatever license
they choose" (J.A.Turner), but in this particular case I find that the restriction imposed by Compaq (no use of Tru64 binary under Linux) is a little bit beyond the limits: would you imagine a car vendor that would say: "I sell you this 4WD, but you don't have the right to use it on highways. If you want to drive on highways, you must purchase our specific car for highways (and for highways only)"
But perhaps I missed something ?
Regards,
Pierre
Phillip Helbig wrote:
>
>
> SET RANT/FULL
>
> How about running Digital Unix, err Tru64?
>
> Sure, it costs more. In general, I can understand wanting to save
> money. I have a lot of debts, am currently trying to avoid losing even
> more in my divorce settlement, my job contract expires in four months, I
> have unpaid bills and hope I don't lose my flat if I can't get the money
> together on time. In an individual case, one always wants to save
> money. But what about the big picture? If I found a briefcase full of
> bills on the street, I'd probably keep it, reasoning that whoever can
> afford to lose that much doesn't need it as much as I do. But of
> course, this can't be a solution for everything; people have to work and
> get paid for it for society to keep existing.
>
> The whole linux thing has gotten some people to think that EVERY
> solution has to be free. (None of this, by the way, is directed to your
> request personally, but rather is a general rant.) The total costs,
> however, are usually much higher---more people to maintain the stuff,
> wasted time solving problems like the one above etc. Developing good
> quality software costs effort, as anyone knows who's done it. Why
> shouldn't this effort be paid just like other effort? The fact that one
> can now easily copy data cheaply is not the point---who suggests that
> authors should not be paid for their books just because it is easy to
> publish on the net? As always, the money is for the effort; it might be
> tied to artificially-priced media just as a practical way of collecting
> revenue, but other models are possible.
>
> I use some free software. I've made some of my own stuff publicly
> available. Fine if one is able to do so, or if it otherwise wouldn't
> see the light of day at all. But to EXPECT a solution to something as
> complicated as the interaction between an OS, RTL and a binary
> executable to be free is really stretching it. Sure, if you want to
> play around and wouldn't have spent the money anyway (the standard line
> I hear from people copying music CDs), linux is a nice parlour game, but
> I think it's a bit naive to expect it to "work" in the same sense that a
> commercial offering should work.
>
> Certainly, I expect to be able to use arbitrarily old executables after
> upgrading the OS. What a pain if it didn't. Is the TOTAL cost of
> moving to Tru64 unix really more than the TOTAL costs of running linux?
>
> I probably sound old-fashioned. Well, some things WERE better in the
> past. Instead of quality stuff, the majority of the community today
> seems split between people who think paying for software is evil and end
> up spending---if all costs are counted---much more than they would have
> had they bought the stuff and helped an hones programmer make a living,
> and people who just produce low-quality software, as in the links here.
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q131/1/09.asp
>
> http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1707928.html
>
> SET NORANT
>
> Phillip Helbig
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