Re: [tlug] [OT] Say _no_ to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Jean-Christophe Helary writes:

 > You can reciprocate the argument: commercial software is a waste  
 > because people who need that code need to re-invent the wheel.

A brief perusal of Sourceforge and Savannah will show that people just
need to reinvent wheels, period.<wink>

 > Besides for the personal benefit of the share holders of a commercial  
 > company, what is the social good created by closing the source ?

Revenue to finance development.

 > Wherever you care to look at, the current software based economy is  
 > booming (if it is) _because_ free solutions exist, _not_ because  
 > closed solutions do.

The license is pretty much a wash, in fact most users prefer the
closed software.  The economy is booming primarily because software
solutions exist.  The license seems to be mostly a second-order
effect, *except to free software developers* to whom it is of course a
matter of life and death.