On Tue, January 10, 2006 20:18, Simon Phipps wrote: > > On Jan 10, 2006, at 22:37, DC Parris wrote: > >> On Tue, January 10, 2006 13:42, John McCreesh wrote: >>> On Mon, 2006-01-09 at 23:41 -0500, DC Parris wrote: >>>> Greetings! >>>> >>>> I am responding to an article that claims Microsoft invests $50b/ >>>> year in >>>> R&D - as if the libre software community doesn't invest in R&D. I >>>> believe >>>> it does. Can the OOo team help me quantify what gets invested in >>>> R&D? >>>> I >>>> am also contacting some other major projects, but would like to >>>> get some >>>> input from the folks at OOo. >>>> >>>> Don >>> >>> To compare like with like, you may need to look at developer manhours >>> per annum generated by Microsoft compared to the open-source >>> community... >>> >>> John >>> >> >> Here's the general gist - which I have communicated to most of the >> folks >> I've contacted: >> >> The gist of my article is that R&D for GNU/Linux and FOSS has to be >> considered on a different basis than Microsoft's approach. As an >> example, >> Microsoft may well spend $50 billion/year in R&D. Against the >> backdrop of >> what they distribute, it seems like they're throwing money away. >> After >> $50b, a WMF vulnerability puts 600 million users at risk. On the FOSS >> side of the house, no single company has a need to invest $50 >> billion/year >> because they are essentially getting free R&D, and much of that goes >> unaccounted for. > > I was with you at the beginning of that, Don, but I'm surprised to > hear you saying "free R&D" given what you've written on LXer > recently. It's not free/gratis. It costs every one of us time, many > of us money as well. As the cost of the R & D is not bourne by a > single entity, you're right that it's pointless to try to estimate a > dollar value for it unless you also establish the exchange rate. But > it's not free/gratis. Each community member invests according to > their ability and goals, and they do so because they expect to see a > return on that investment on their own terms and timescale. >
Please forgive my poor choice of words. I should have known better. I do hope everyone was able to grasp my real intentions. Don -- DC Parris http://matheteuo.org/ http://chaddb.sourceforge.net/ "Hey man, whatever pickles your file!" --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
