Shai Loves Open Source

UPDATE: Zoli pointed out that I had the wrong link in my post on this, I corrected the link to point to Shai's blog and not back to my own.

I am tired of reporters and others distorting my statements regarding to Open Source. As I look at the posts and blogs out there that have come since my statements at the Churchill Club event on Tuesday , I get the impression that there are zealots so committed to the Open Source movement, they will pick a fight with software companies, just for the sake of the fight.

Last week there was a mini-dustup about an interview that Shai did at the Churchill Club (although in reading his comments there may have been stuff from an analyst meeting mixed in there as well.) I wrote about the original article and later I listened to the actual podcasts and posted an update suggesting that anyone interested in this should listen for themselves because the full podcasts certainly didn't portray Shai's own words like the pull quotes that were used would have suggested.

Shai wrote this post (in his own words, no editing) in response to the VNUnet.com article, another example of someone using blogs to set the record straight... there's a lot of that going on these days.

I also liked his comments about the debate and pressure that IP companies are facing from OSS advocates:

The one thing we do not believe in is the attempt to kidnap the whole Open Source topic by the "socialize IP ownership" movement. We have seen in the past that extreme socialism does not lead to extreme goodness in any area of our lives, and IP ownership is no different. As a matter of fact, any form of extremism is not helpful, and, as such, I think there is room to respect the approach that the IP owner should decide the fate of the IP, not a social pressure group.

Comments

[Zoli Erdos]

Jeff, I finally figured out what you're saying, but I think a URL/reference in your post is misleading.
When you say "Shai wrote this post" did you not want to link to Shai's blog at https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/1700?
As it is now, it points to your previous post on the subject, and is misleading.

[jeff]

Zoli,
Thanks, I had to write this post twice because Typepad crapped out on me the first time. I corrected the link and posted an update.

[Zoli Erdos]

Oh, it happened to me way too often, so nowadays I don't take the risk: use an offline editor, like BlogJet. Actually, I hear Writely is also capable of posting to blogs directly - that may be the way to go.