Hi, There have been great discussions regarding "software A" not satisfying "clause B" of GPL and hence should not be used. Scilab discussion reflects the same view but the open source community will appreciate more if someone says , "this is a software developed by us which provides more features than Matlab ( or Scilab ) , satisifies all clauses of GPL ( or any other licenses which you like ) and is totally reliable.
To me it looks like the open source community in India is moving on the lines of Indian IT industry.There is more hype than substance . Despite employee strengths touching 80000 in some big sofware giants, no Indian company is ready to look beyond outsourcing . They are not ready to come up with their own solutions -- be it products or services .Their world is centered about offering sevices ( an euphemism for labour ) to their clients . Indian software giants claim to have clients from the fortune 500 companies like M$ .Those of you who have worked there know that work carried by our companies is not of strategic importance to these fortune 500 companies.
Let us ensure that the same thing does not happen to the believers of open source. It is always easy to believe in a philosophy but what is more important that you implement it.
Pradeepto Bhattacharya wrote:
Since I am in a argumentive mood, lets say a company requires huge lot numerical calculations for their project? Loads of them. And this project will make or break them. They find that MatLab does everything for them. SciLab comes close but many crucial features are missing in GNU Octave. What would they do? Not use the first two since you advised against it. (Lets assume that they hired you as consultant by paying loads of $$$.) So you take their money as fees and tell them not possible because they can't use Mat/SciLab and Octave doesn't worky. One solution is they add all the features to Octave and then use it. Now that's an ok advise but in real world there are deadlines which they will (surely) miss because they started buidling bricks inhouse instead of making the house.
I agree with him . Open source is not the only thing which makes a good software ; software quality is equally important . However , at the same time , I would like to say that open source philosophy can be used as an effective tool for the development of the nation.
Long before the open source pundits were born Rabindra Nath Tagore had written :
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; ... Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; ... Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. --- Rabindra Nath Tagore
That is my idea of open source --- a free and liberated society.
Regards, Sourabh