Re: [HACKERS] BSD vs. GPL

Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Here are some short examples.  I have a Viewsonic 15" digital flat panel
> monitor with ATI XpertLCD card.  Xig has a commercial X server that
> drives it.  XFree86 doesn't support it. The cost of the X server is
> worth it, because without it, I would be forced to us another display
> device.

This is mainly the result of ATI not giving out the specs (for whatever 
reason - possibly an agreement with Xig ;-p )

>  The cost of BSDI is well worth it for me, because of the high
> reliability and performance of the OS is well worth the cost.  Free
> software is nice, but for me, the cost of commercial software is a
> bargain considering the benefits it provides.

The fact of being commercial does not automatically make software 
high reliability and performance.

Just imagine a scenario where the current PostgreSQL development team 
had a bunch of marketing/management guys who had made commitments based 
on our initial release date estimates. I bet that the release would have 
been still a "little" late but without most of the enchancements and 
much more buggy. 

> (This doesn't mean I don't support open software.  I am a PostgreSQL
> developer.)
> 
> Who do you want to write your heart monitor software?

Someone with deep pockets and tight schedules of course, so my relatives 
could sue them afterwards ;)

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Hannu