Is it just me… or does windows7 look like a themed version of ubuntu with compiz enabled?
[Insert image of a Windows programmer browsing sourceforge] ..damn cant find one
The problem with the whole open-source software idea is when someone actually does make use of the code, and not abide by the licence it is under, a course of legal action against the guilty party is not entirely clear.
Firstly to argue your case you need to be able to compare closed-source proprietary code with yours, and in court demonstrating that your revenue is derived from exclusive access to the source is a good case to dismiss calls for the code to be reviewed.
I think we need to write a program that scans, analyses and tries to find similarities between two pieces of code, that restricts the user actually being able to see the code! What objections could they pull out of there poopholes then?
Secondly if they are found to have used open-source code in their commercial product, violating the terms of the licence, and the accuser decides to sue, where do the proceeds go? To the guy who wrote the code? But his code was based and modified from someone else’s project. Do we proportion it out based on the amount of code written? Time spent? Usefulness of snippet?!
No! We should start a trust fund to which all proceeds go, and the cash will be spent on future development and support of open-source software! Funding of projects should then be apportioned based on user feedback on ideas for improvement to the cause, such as new features to this or that application, or even ‘just make it look better!’ So often something needs to be done for the users sake, but because the programmers can through some hack get it working, no one makes it easy for the average Joe! Seriously if Linux was a car you would need two permanent mechanics! 
So what do you think?
