this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
27 points (100.0% liked)

NASA

1007 readers
10 users here now

Anything related to the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration); the latest news, events, current and future missions, and more.

Note: This community is an unofficial forum and is unaffiliated with NASA or the U.S. government.

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
antangil
L7ePvmEn
27
Data rights limitations affecting NASA technology development (spacenews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/nasa
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] partial_accumen 2 points 1 year ago

That doesn’t make sense … the Open Source Software movement is basically what started the technological explosion in the 70s and 80s and it was basically the basis of which Microsoft and Apple got their start …

You have a chunk of the history very wrong. You have a couple pieces of history that are close, but in the wrong order, and with attributing the impact of those events wrong.

Examples:

  • Berkley Unix was originally and addon to the commercial software of Unix System V.
  • RMS didn't even create GNU until 1983 and that was barely the idea ad the time.
  • The very first version of Linux wasn't a thing until 1991, and it was NOT the useful OS you think of today.
  • Slackware the first distro and was probably the beginning of what most people think of Linux and that was really only in 1993. It too was NOT what you think of Linux today.
  • Microsoft got started making systems to control automobile traffic lights on Altair computers. Nothing to do with OSS. In fact, Microsoft's BASIC they wrote for Altair was then pirated, and Bill Gates complained about that. Certainly not OSS. For the PC they licensed DOS from Xerox. Again, nothing to do with OSS.

You're cherry picking any OSS notable events without attribution to all of the private work and commercial software that enabled it to occur.

I get it … we all need money to live … and we need to be rewarded for our work … but those needs shouldn’t be taken to such extremes as to lock away knowledge and monetize shouldn’t be taken to such extremes as to lock away knowledge and monetize everything

How much software will you write for free? How are you going to feed yourself and your family if all of your efforts are just given away?

while slowing down progress that others could potentially create if they had access.

Again, without the IP protections there aren't the resources to write everything for free. Some? Certainly. There is some government and corporate support. I addressed that above. The big innovation is likely going to come from small or large groups doing the work to create the thing to personally benefit.

There are nations that do what you're suggesting historically. Look at cold war era Russia and China. Software written was mostly done by the state. There wasn't private enterprise doing it. What software innovations did you see coming out of those countries at the time?