[BangPypers] The myth of free software

[Sirtaj Singh Kang]

On 17-May-11, at 6:22 AM, Santosh Rajan wrote:

> Ok let me tell you the whole story scientifically.
>
> "The chances of anyone succeeding with an Open Source Project or  
> Startup
> Company is inversely proportional to the square of the distance  
> between San
> Fransisco and the location of this OpenSource/Startup Project".

Okay, let's assume this to be true. Now we need to determine the  
causality. What are the possible reasons? Here are some:

1. A person in India will fail at trying to create a business around  
open source, but is more likely to succeed at precisely the same  
endeavour, if they move to the Valley. It is the environment that  
counts, not the person.

2. People outside the Valley are incapable of creating/running that  
kind of business, because they don't know how to do it right. Moving  
to the Valley might increase their chances, since they will have  
better access to people who can teach or inspire them.

3. People who are already in the Valley are inherently superior, and  
us little people in India are wasting our time trying to emulate them.

These are three possible hypotheses. What are yours?

-Taj.