There do exist device manufacturers who GPL their device drivers, e.g. http://freshmeat.net/projects/wanpipe/?branch_id=73783&release_id=290741
On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 2:31 PM, Bert Gunter <gunter.ber...@gene.com> wrote: > > I think the substance of the issue is that the more eyes on code, the fewer > the bugs (assuming a well-designed examination and debugging process is in > place, as is typical for large open source projects like R). By this > (obvious?)criterion, both the remarks about the dangers of proprietary code > and the greater unreliability of R's lesser-used specialty packages, which > by their nature tend to be less carefully perused, are valid. > > Perhaps an argument is that certain code might not get written at all if it > were not proprietary. Device drivers might be an example. But possibly other > than that, it does seem like SAS needs to reconsider their marketing > strategy and advertising claims. > > Anecdotal remark: I orginally moved from S-Plus to R because R provided > **better** documentation, support, and had fewer bugs, which were more > rapidly fixed when found. One of my smarter "investment" choices. > > Cheers to all, > Bert Gunter > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-boun...@r-project.org [mailto:r-help-boun...@r-project.org] On > Behalf Of Barry Rowlingson > Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 10:32 AM > To: Tony Breyal > Cc: r-help@r-project.org > Subject: Re: [R] R in the NY Times > > 2009/1/10 Tony Breyal <tony.bre...@googlemail.com>: > >> [SAS marketroid quote] >> "In fact, SAS values open-source software." > > But clearly not enough to open-source SAS itself. It would seem that > SAS values _other_people's_ open source. > > If SAS was open source and free, then SAS would collect on all the > other things "Customers value SAS for" - support, testing, training, > docs, etc etc. And there would be a lot more people using it. > > Another quote: "We advocate approaches based on science" - closed > source is closed knowledge and is nearer alchemy than science. I may > use proprietary software for video editing or music production, but > when it comes to science, it's got to be open. > > Barru > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.