[raquo]

> Imagine if all the proprietary software was open source, from OS X to Office to SunOS to SAS to Mathematica to Photoshop to AutoCAD to Google's search algorithms

Most of this wouldn't even exist if it had to be open-source from the start.

[hackuser]

I agree that's a possibility, and it's the obvious concern. I'm trying to challenge our (mine included) common notion.

My 'radical idea' is that maybe they would exist. What if we had a system that provided a payment mechanism but did away with IP restrictions, for example? Consider how most of science is funded and shared, for example. Massive projects like the LHC and space probes are funded, and their data is openly shared. I'm not saying that the exact same system would work for software, but that there are other systems that work very well.

I'd expect that with 'open' technology, innovation would be faster and products would be better, as everyone could use and learn from best-in-class tech.

[lmm]

On the contrary, most of these things started as either university research projects or just someone playing around, and were only monetized later.