The question is whether access to source code makes it easier to find and exploit holes. I'd say it is obvious that it does.
But history doesn't seem to support that. Closed software has had just as many exploits, if not more, than open software over the years.
I don't think any of us are in doubt as to why Oracle, IBM, Sun, HP, etc., support Open Source as vigorously as they do, are we?
If you think it's to fight MS then you're probably wrong. Linux has been replacing commercial unix boxes much more than Windows over the years because the transition is easier. And IBM, HP and Sun are all losing business for their closed software by supporting Linux.
There are some areas where security by obscurity works very well.
It works as well as WEP does for wifi, it'll probably protect you from the casual driver by but that's about it.
I haven't had a closed source driver kill my XP box in a very long time, so what's the point?
Well I bet you've
never had an OSS driver kill your XP box before either, right? =)
If we're just talking about Linux on the desktop, then it's understandable why you guys would want drivers open sourced, since that is one way to at least get drivers.
We're talking about Linux in general, it's just that the server end of the spectrum is already almost 100% covered by GPL'd drivers. OSS drivers are the only way to get good long-term support for the hardware, manufacturers have already proven that many times by discontinuing support for something and leaving everyone who owns it out to dry.
There was one recently where someone fairly well-known in FOSS circles complained about his open source forums being repeatedly hacked. In that particular case it's likely that having the source proprietary would have prevented the attacks, because they were simple mischief that someone would probably not have devoted a huge amount of time to.
All that proves is that we need better programmers over all. And forums are one of the best examples because everyone seems to want to write their own and with the popularity of PHP and ASP.NET it's too easy to get one started without having any clue at all. But without knowing what exploit was used you can't determine if having the source would have helped, the forums could have been doing something really stupid like having a URL or POST data with admin=0/1 in it to determine admins.
Hah, you mean that if a company doesn't rely on an open source model for its business it will be slammed by people who prefer an open source model, and so they should adopt an open source model to prevent that?
You don't have to reimplement your entire company's business practices, but if you're going to release Linux software, especially kernel modules, you've got to either GPL your software or be prepared to defend your decision a lot.
What does "community minded" have to do with anything? The only community a business needs to care about from a commercial perspective is the community of its paying customers.
Spoken like a true business man, but if you're going to spit in the face of the ideals of those you're trying to sell to, don't expect your products to be very popular.
Yes, because there is no inherent standard of value. A thing is worth what the consumer thinks it is worth at the time of consumption. At the moment when someone wants a hot, fast, cheap meal McDonalds might very well make the best hamburger in the world.
Of course there is a standard and McDonald's food is barely above the "edible" line on that standard. Sure you'll eat it if you're hungry enough, but that doesn't make it good.
Secondly, all of the major innovators of the last twenty years, whether Lotus, or Quicken, or Adobe, or whomever, have taken advantage of Microsoft's success, not the other way around.
And most of them have paid the price in one way or another, how many people under 25 have actually heard of Lotus? MS lets them be successful for as long as they don't want to be in that market, once MS decides to go that route you need to start looking for alternative forms of income.
Thirdly, nobody has to visit a dozen websites for drivers after installing XP. I have exactly three pieces of hardware that require drivers on this machine: the Audigy, the TV Wonder, and the 7600GT. Sound and Video work out of the box on XP. The TV Wonder works out of the box on Vista.
Of course they do with Vista, but you were talking about XP and in a few years Vista will be in the same position anyway. The only thing that works out of the box on this machine in XP is the hard disk and I'm actually surprised that did since it's SATA.
There's been little to no success on that front, nor will there be, and the desire for it is one of the things that keeps me from taking the "movement" seriously.
Only in the US, in the rest of the world Linux is making much better progress. In 15 years Linux/Windows will probably another case of Metric/Imperial measurement.