Some companies still struggle with Open Source software violations
Slow and Steady
"maddog" explains that the seemingly clear concept of Free and Open Source Software is not so clear to all involved, and that education takes time.
I have been programming since 1969 – more than 46 years. The GNU project started in 1984, more than 30 years ago, and I first saw Linux in May 1994, more than 21 years ago. For a large portion of that time I have been using and talking about Open Source in various forms.
Sometimes this work is exasperating. Issues that seem so clear and obvious to me (especially because I have seen others successfully implement what I have been talking about) still seem to stymie people I meet.
Recently, I was at an embedded systems conference and was happy to see some discussion about Free and Open Source Software. Some vendors were actively talking about projects like Coreboot, using Free Software, and the advantages that they see in it. It was gratifying to hear some of the same arguments that FOSS people have been making for years being taken as a matter of fact by these business people.
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