In other words, it's not a model for running a real economy, but for free-riding off a money economy financed by others?
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People who insist that Open Source and other non-balkanized methods of production and distribution are models for how the present muck-up can be replaced are mistaken in my view.
It would be more accurate to say that OSS makes the process of producing, obtaining and modifying software less onerous *within* the existing cage (to paraphrase Simone Weil, it's like having a cell with lovely accommodations).
On the other hand, I think "free riding" is a bit off the scanner inasmuch as the money economy always absorbs and benefits from these activities, shouting to the contrary notwithstanding (note IBM's embrace of OSS as a countermeasure against MSFT - an action Sun Micro has recently mimicked).
.d.
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I'm sending the two of you to hell to take more lessons from your dead teacher!
White Lotus Chief Bai Mei