On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 08:35:15AM -0400, Shawn H Corey wrote: > On 11-06-28 08:25 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > a colleague wants to write an article along the lines of the most > > pernicious myths about open source software. so, in your opinion, > > what would those be? let's stick to the top five, along with their > > brutal and savage debunking. thanks. > > > > rday > > #1. Open-source is written by amateurs and must be very-low quality. > > #2. Open-source can only imitate, not innovate. > > #3. Open-source is harder to use. > > #4. Open-source is harder to install. > > #5. You get what you pay for: open-source can not be used to do real work. The obvious one to me would be that it is insecure because any black hat can look at the code and develop a way of subverting it. Black hats get access to source for and subvert proprietary code anyways. Open source allows many eyes at the code to audit it and contribute fixes to strenghthen it. This is certainly true of ciphers and coding schemes that are made much stronger by open peer review. > Shawn slainte mhath, RGB -- Richard Guy Briggs -- ~\ -- ~\ <hpv.tricolour.net> <www.TriColour.net> -- \___ o \@ @ Ride yer bike! Ottawa, ON, CANADA -- Lo_>__M__\\/\%__\\/\% Vote! -- <greenparty.ca>_____GTVS6#790__(*)__(*)________(*)(*)_________________