19 Mar
2005
19 Mar
'05
6:21 p.m.
If enough people use proprietary
software, eventually (as was the case in the desktop OS market until
recently) there will effectively be no choice.
well, enough people use proprietary software *now* - but there's still
choice ... in fact, a big reason why people would use proprietary
software over open-source is because there *is no choice*
the thing with skype is, there is no free alternative (the ones
mentioned in this thread are useless in any context i've tried them in)
... so anyone with programming skills who thinks we shouldn't be using
this software should be writing an open-source alternative ...
there is no point having a discussion on whether one should be using
open or proprietary software (the answer is bleeding obvious) when
clearly such a choice is not available in this case.
it's really stupid to expect people to forgo doing something *just
because* there is not a free alternative. i mean, i'd write an
open-source application that did what skype does if i knew how to
program - but i don't, so i'll keep using skype till someone does.
shayne