When it comes to open source, most of Big Tech isn't actually like 90s-era Microsoft. Most of it is more akin to what Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says here:
If an open source product gets good enough, we'll simply take it. Take [the web server software] Apache: once Apache got better than our own web server, we threw it away and took Apache. So the great thing about open source is nobody owns it - a company like Oracle is free to take it for nothing, include it in our products and charge for support, and that's what we'll do.
So it is not disruptive at all - you have to find places to add value. Once open source gets good enough, competing with it would be insane. Keep in mind it's not that good in most places yet. We're a big supporter of Linux. At some point we may embed Linux in all of our products and provide support.
Usually when Big Tech sees open source, they don't think "extinguish it". They think "take it".And as long as Big Tech abides by the license, there's nothing you can do about it. Open source is largely designed to be taken. In most licenses, nothing prevents it from Big Tech selling it.
"But why would someone buy open source if it's free?" some people ask.
Because, believe it or not, most people who buy software actually like corporations, and they love it when a guy in a suit and tie shows up to sell them stuff. Even if they can technically get it for free.
They're not just buying software.
They're often buying a warranty and interoperability and something that "just works".
Open source doesn't thwart the corporations from making money. It often helps them.
Now is this to everyone's benefit? No, not at all. And this is because it's not necessarily the coders of open source software who get compensated. It's the corporations that sell it.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2006/apr/18/ellisonwewill
@atomicpoet we still haven’t got over the buy out of Sun Microsystems
