If open source software dies, it is legal to bring it back to life. The same is not true of most commercial software.

Regards,
Mike

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Van Peteghem 
>Sent: Jul 23, 2008 4:33 PM
>To: csound@lists.bath.ac.uk
>Subject: [Csnd] Re: The case for open source
>
>I recall an article on Slashdot about software companies (I can't 
>remember which) that couldn't sell their software with a profit anymore, 
>and released it as open source. That would be the best solution for 
>everybody. Of course there still would have to be enough developers that 
>want to work on it. That is actually something that can happen to open 
>source software as well, if programmers lose interest in an open source 
>product, it dies.
>
>Steven Yi schreef:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I just saw a link to this from a Linux Audio mailing list that Tascam
>> is ceasing development of Gigastudio:
>>
>> http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=1738
>>
>> This kind of thing has really been an issue for me, that closed source
>> software that goes into an unsupported state severely limits the
>> lifespan and history of computer music works.  I've discussed
>> long-term software in lectures and about considering what you are
>> investing time/money in in terms of future work.  I have referenced
>> the issues that affected Apple users moving from OS9 to OSX, then
>> again from PPC to Intel, how my friend was affected in half of his
>> plugins were never ported to Intel, thus severely limiting his ability
>> to open or reuse aspects of his project (basically he would need to
>> keep an OSX PPC machine around if he ever wanted to look at the
>> project again).
>>
>> Anyways, it's these kinds of situations that I am very concerned about
>> when I think about computer music and the history of it.  I am a
>> strong advocate for open source as well as investing in technologies
>> based on virtual machines or interpreters where possible to protect
>> investments of time/work.  Just wanted to bring this up for discussion
>> as I think it's an important point involving our our work.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> steven
>>
>>
>> Send bugs reports to this list.
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>>
>>
>>   
>
>-- 
>  Mark
>  _________________________________________
>  When you get lemons, you make lemonade.
>  When you get hardware, you make software.
>
>
>
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