The problem having to do with technology that I have selected is open source code and the lack of it. There should be a lot more products released as open source instead of companies trying to milk every last cent out of consumers for inferior products. For example Microsoft has a strangle hold on operating systems and people are tricked into buying garbage like windows 8 because it comes with most new computers. It has happened in the past with vista as well. This isn’t just to bash Microsoft, my claim is that open source material is in the best interest for the majority. There should be more open source which would lead to more
options. We deserve to be able to get more for our money as consumers.
The reason it is better for the majority is it allows for a collective of people to work on certain applications and improve it. That if you have the entire world’s collective experience and skill you will absolutely have a better product than if you leave it to a few select individuals. Certain people might need it for different reasons than others allowing for increased function of certain software. The wide spread usage of these applications speaks in volumes in favor of dropping copyrights. Companies could still make a great deal of money through advertising and support, but they should publish the code and accept the challenge that other free-lance people can build a better product. That would increase the accountability and value of their products. If they are kept to a higher standard they could absolutely still sell their products for a great deal of money. This would benefit everyone involved. It is different than free software as it isn’t just giving out free programs but making the code belong to everyone.
Here are some examples of common applications that have resulted from open source.
· Linux – a Unix-Based operating system used predominantly in servers[4] Linux was created by a student in 1991 along with other developers around the world.[19]· Apache — a leading server software and scripting language on the web[20]·
OpenOffice.org – an office suite software with word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation capabilities,[21] now forked to LibreOffice after lock-in claims from companies which supported OpenOffice.·
Wikipedia — Online encyclopedia open for anyone to update and revise content.[19]source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_movement#Brief_history
The principle behind my logic is that the products of most major companies don’t live up to their name. The quality isn’t there anymore and yet they still are in supreme control which doesn’t leave as much room for progress. If open source is available then all there would be is progress and we would advance much faster than we do now. It needs to happen for the greater good. It is less a problem as it was before but it still needs to be something that is taken seriously.
Sincerely,Your Friendly Neighborhood Patient Zero Blue
PZB, sounds like it's definitely more *advantageous* to have lots of people working to improve software. But what makes it morally better? Benefit to people? Or, is getting a better product intrinsically enough to make something morally better?
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