[OT] What is Open Source? (was Re: ANN: Twisted 0.16.0...)

[Laura Creighton]

People here seem to be thinking that the GPL is there to protect
creators rights to their software.  As a thought experiment, consider
that the GPL is instead intended only to benefit the purchasers of
software.  When the damn thing breaks, the purchaser can pay somebody
to fix it.  This is a consumer-protection issue - akin to to the
requirement that the ingredients in food be listed on the outside.
You can still go buy the can whose first ingredient is sugar and
whose next 4 are artificial flavours if you like, just as you can
buy buggy software written by idiots if you like as well.  The thing
is you will be able to tell (or hire somebody to tell you) before
you buy -- and if the damn thing breaks there will be something that
you can do about it besides hope that the seller a) is competant enough
to fix things and b) gives a damn.

Laura Creighton