🚀 go-pugleaf

"Ben Matterson" <bmatterson@borland.com> wrote in message
news:3AC4BFA3.22C45DCD@borland.com...
>
> Does it come as a surprise that the commercial release is our
> priority? We get the commercial product out the door and then turn our
> attention to getting the Open Edition updated and current. Knowing
> that Borland is a business, why would you expect Borland to work any
> differently? We have not turned our back on open source, but we are
> realists when it comes to determining what will keep Borland going.
>
> Binary files from Borland are required to go though a fair amount of
> review before being posted. As a business, why would Borland invest
> that kind of time and effort in something that would 1) provide no
> return on that investment and 2) take away revenue from the certified
> version?

With all respect to Borland (because Borland can legally do what's doing), I
must tell you flat that IT'S NOT an Open Source game at all ! And don't tell
us that it's not true, prove it if it's wrong ! For example, name any
company out there commited to open source, that:

- release only sources of free version to protect its revenue from
commercial versions
- doesn't provide paid support for free version
- doesn't provide "certified", paid product with no strings attached
(deployment license), i.e. has only free version with no support and "who
will use it shall be doomed" at one side, and very expensive, only one
supported version on another end.
- doesn't cooperate with users (community) to improve its core product.
- doesn't operate in open environment under public scrutiny (don't mention
Borland's area at  SourceForge, it's dead in comparision to Firebird).
- utilize spin doctors and damage control engineers whenever is criticized
for its lack of openess and honesty in communication, or is criticized at
all (I don't account that to the low-level staff, they are conditioned and
ordered to behave that way).

...and all that at once.

Ok, Borland has right to operate that way, and there is nothing wrong with
it. BUT DON'T TELL US THAT IT'S OPEN SOURCE ! Please, learn about WHAT IS
open source and what rules this game has, before you'll defend Borland's
steps re. OS.

And small personal note at the end: It's obvious that Borland doesn't want
to learn new business tricks, neither give it a try. But it's impossible to
put the genie back in the bottle once is out, and Borland can't make more
money from InterBase when utilise the old business strategy. That same
strategy that went to the decision to send InterBase to sunset in late '99.
And definitely not at all when InterBase has a competition in it's own free
version and in Firebird.

Best regards
-- Pavel Cisar