Open source or licensed?

The world of software is interesting, for every software need of yours there are fundamentally 2 questions. Do you need open source or licensed? For the uninitiated in this world let me spell it out. Open source means free for use by the whole world and licensed means of course paying for what you need. For every licensed software there is at least an equivalent if not better flavor of free software available. Which makes me wonder who buys licensed software at all? When all & sundry is available for free who will pay for it? The truth is unnerving. There is a huge market for licensed software! Wonder of wonders a whole world out there which is not even aware of on the house freebees available.

I am tempted to apply this logic of open source versus licensed to the world today. I believe when the universe was created the development of it was free for all. One made rules just for themselves and stuck to it. Responsibility is one of the key things in open source software. If it is free for use, one takes responsibility for its maintenance & upgradaing it too! There are no written rules but it is all a part of the game and well accepted & understood. Some smart Alec somewhere decided to create countries and divided the whole world based on the license of “language” and “culture”. The result is very well seen by all of us by the use of these so called licenses. Not only are wars being fought amongst countries but also within a single country so many fights over a mode of communication! Absurdity at its best. Can someone see beyond these licenses and realize that these are all manmade? Unfortunately more and more we are getting caught in this language division web.

Relationships are another aspect that have suffered in this licensing game. With no “mine” and “thine” earlier, people had more of a “heartificial” relationship. Off late though there is more “artificial” relating. Humans created licensed marriage alright, but never stopped looking after getting married. The result is more extra marital affairs or strangers staying under a roof just because they have a license. Well, don’t get me wrong I am not professing for extra marital affairs but just wondering why they exist in the first place. Binding / forcing is the root- cause I suppose. May be I am wrong, I hope I am!

Due to these legal bindings we have courts full of warring couples who spend prime years of their lives fighting over proving the other person wrong. Imagine a free world where people lived responsibly and did not feel the necessity to belittle the other? Thanks to all this the Television industry is thriving fueling the already agitated minds with more stories to make the mind restless & eternally doubting the intentions of people around you :)

All in all I feel like going up to the guys creating more barriers in this world and showing them the open source world. It would be as good as a road without signals or traffic police. People would drive responsibly without overtaking the other. May be I am asking too much! But also may be it is time the buck needs to stop somewhere and let it start with me...

Comments

ponns said…
The way you have related real life issues to software licensing was good and again its a great blog. I could sense that it a reflection of the current issues in the soil you live.
February 25, 2010 at 5:09 AM
Preetham Sai P.V. said…
It would be such a great idea to have an OperSource world :-)) Even nudists believe in this same thought process.. Why should we be bound by the clothes? :P (In Mangalore Summer, even I ask the same question!! :P) Sometimes it would mean 'Asking for too much!!' :-))
February 25, 2010 at 1:12 PM
Sucha said…
@Ponns..

Thanks for ur ever gracious comments..

Well it the issues are great in the soil (concrete) I live in but also do exist in other places I suppose. We are getting more educated but also more narrow minded which is an irony!
February 26, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Sumi said…
First i thought its to do something with the software and slowly i moved to a very different thought. After i finish reading i am wondering when did this transformation of idea take place. Sucha its ur wonder!!! Open source world.
February 26, 2010 at 5:17 PM
Shruti Narayanan said…
wat a thought! seriously firstly i felt this has sumthing to do on a techi side. since am a first time visitor to ur page, i felt its sum technical blog i reached but seriously, really appreciated ur thought!
February 26, 2010 at 5:45 PM
Sucha said…
Pretham,

I expect you to gimme radical observations..and you have not failed me :)
February 26, 2010 at 6:47 PM
Sucha said…
@Sumi dear..Thanks..I spared you of opensource software jargon for once and gave you a different take on it

Shruti..I write once in a while and hence may be you have not visited. Thanks!
February 26, 2010 at 6:48 PM
Adisha said…
Wow... a good comparison between the two worlds. If only people would take responsibility for their own lives rather than obsess over all the Options they ahve available to them :)

Nice one ...
February 26, 2010 at 8:46 PM
rohit Iyer said…
This is one of the best pieces of writing I've come across. The very thought of comparing life with "Open-Source and Licensed" is amazing!!
I particularly liked this line-->
With no “mine” and “thine” earlier, people had more of a “heartificial” relationship. Off late though there is more “artificial” relating.....
Very true..
Keep penning ya thoughts.
Cheers!
--
RoHiT
dial-a-denial.blogspot.com
March 1, 2010 at 2:16 AM
K Sitaram said…
Pappu excellent piece of work. You are amazing. keep it up. Hope everyone thinks and ponders over such issue which they feel it are trivial. Keep it up
March 2, 2010 at 8:18 AM
Sucha said…
Adisha & Rohit..:)

Thanks!

Hubby dear..pleasant surprise getting a comment from u! Distance does wonders sometimes!
March 2, 2010 at 5:04 PM
Wernamre said…
Hi I was going through your blog and I read through

one of your "Musings"
--Open Source or Licensed
Well, When I first read your blog I was also under the same impression as one of your commenter that its about the open source and licensed softwares but
as overthrown with your second para which completely diversified.

"I believe when the universe was created the development of it was free for all."

I m sorry but I do not agree with this statement of yours
Nothing is free. Everything has a cost. Even Nature God) has its rules, the Law of Karma? So, where would this fall into? Open Source or Licensed?For every action we do there is an equal and opposite reaction as rightly said.

I really like the word "heartificial" makes a lot of
ense. But your analogy to marriage bewilders me. If marriage falls into being licensed then would not getting marriage and having a so called live-in relationship be considered open source?

"Imagine a free world where people lived responsiblyand did not feel the necessity to belittle the other?"

I possibly believe that this was existing before us. But there are rules and "licensed rules" even beyond our sphere of dimension, why does God have rules in His own space like we have different Gods for

different requirements? For instance, why isn't the curse of Lord Brahma being lift off so that people can build more of His temples on Earth? Why not freedom there?

I believe barriers are created due to lack of Love and not because the world/relationships are licensed or open source. Yes, Love does teach you to become open by loving all irrespective of the shortcomings!
March 3, 2010 at 3:03 PM
Sucha said…
@Wernamre

Finally I get to deliberate a little more on this subject..Sincere thanks for your candid observations & opinions.

I really agree with the law of karma and that God also has his set of rules. My take on this is, a person who really believes in the law of karma will anyway always try to be on the right side of karma and hence act responsible..

But, over the years in a sample space how many ppl around us really think / act according to this? My major point is we humans make rules and then look at ways of surpassing them. There is a lot of dichotomy that exists in most spheres of human life..Just hoping we as a race realize this..

Thanks again for your time spent
March 4, 2010 at 7:56 PM
Sathish said…
Sucha,

Excellent post. Unlike others, I expected the topic to be a non-tech one and related to real life and you made it exactly the way I expected.

I like the words "heartificial" and "Artificial". Yes, it is VERY TRUE.

I would love to live the Opensource life.

Keep writing.

Waiting for your next blog.
Sathish
March 30, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Anonymous said…
ur blog is like a super star movie, i cant wait to read the next one :)

-u know its me ;)
March 31, 2010 at 4:59 PM
Anonymous said…
The anonymous comment poster is none other than Naresh from collabnet ;)
May 14, 2010 at 2:36 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nobody is indispensable?

 Last few weeks have been particularly painful for the likes of me - where 'we' the nuclear family become an extended family of the place where our spouses work. The fraternity of any service becomes a close knit one - with all the baggage's of any typical family. We celebrate together, we cheer together, we gossip together (separately) and yes we also we mourn together.  The man at the helm of affairs of the Indian Coast Guard Director General, had an unexpected call from the heavens and he went away just at the snap of a finger. Imagine someone leaving the house in a perfect condition and coming back in a casket?  Hardly had we gotten over this loss that, we heard that an ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) who was on the way to save someone from a merchant ship had to ditch it's course mid way and land in to the vast sea. Precious lives lost again. Incidentally the same ALH had saved close to 67 lives in a flood situation, just few days back. Unfortunately there was no s...
Read more

It could have been me..

Image
The past few weeks have been filled with news that made you shudder every morning when we accessed the phone. Shudder to think who has hit the bucket, who else has succumbed to Covid, which family has been brought to their knees by this unknown, unseen enemy. It's the first time that you actually felt your breath every morning and sent out a silent 'thank you' for feeling it! It also has made me think 'It could have been me..' It could have been me whose passing away was being circulated on WhatsApp groups and so many people replying a life less 'RIP' or  'Om Shanti' and forgetting all about it the next minute. It could have been me struggling to get an Oxygen bed desperately with the husband man running pillar to post for the same. It could have been my obituary in the newspaper, which by the looks of it may need a separate supplement these days. It could have been me who recovered from Covid but the lungs got so damaged in the process, that the bo...
Read more

Take care!

Image
The last fortnight I have learned so many lessons and has been laced with so many firsts, it would be a pity not to pen them down. To begin with, my husband and I earned the title of 'First POSITIVE couple' in the organisation he works for. In these times, you very well know in what we were found 'positive' in. No prizes for guessing! We gained so much attention that even the media houses can be put to shame for their coverage of current (in)sensitive topics. The only 'positive' part to it was were not hounded by any of them for earning this distinction.  It was the very first time our daughter went away from us for 'safekeeping'. It was so heartening to see my husband's side of the family step in to take her without any hesitation and with open arms. I must mention that my mother-in-love (do not want to use the law-word!) is close to 70 years and has a full time online teaching job. She dropped everything and took leave with just a firm assurance  ...
Read more