On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 11:08 AM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
On Monday 23 Mar 2009, Rony wrote:
It does make a difference if the software is closed and in control of outsiders. Openness of a software removes these boundaries. Tomorrow if there is an international political crisis, the country of origin of the closed software can force the company to stop dealing with an individual Nation/s.
That goes for any closed software, even indigenous ones. Reason - toolchains. Infact every element in the system will have to be indigenous. Something impossible in today's electronic systems. The more the number of closed components the worse it will get.
Actually, this is one area where open source is not that important. Given the way the global economy works, this is true for just about anything. And, more importantly, for anyone. Can you think of any country that can manage own its own? The age of independence has been replaced by the one of interdependence. The key point is that this is not a bad thing. It actually reduces the chances of violent interactions. The politicians and the hawks will have you believe otherwise but commerce has been the biggest contributor to peace the world over.
If you really wanted to be independent, you'd have to start by making yourself a universe[1].
[1] http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26980.html