is a counter-argument to the position of the Maintainers (and others). It makes cogent points, which is why I think the FOSS movement must split. There has never been a good fit between the FSFers, who believe that software really should be free, and the corporate types, who want to commodify operating systems as a way of providing a platform on which to hang money-making aps and services. And these are conflicts of moral principle on the FSF side versus huge financial stakes on the corporatist side. The latter cannot give way -- it would cost too much and render the whole enterprise pointless. And the FSFers can't give way because it would make the enterprise pointless from their perspective.

Personally, I am happy to see it, of course, because the conflict highlights the unworkability of the Free Culture Movement's models of peer-based production without regard for payment. Since the FCM regards open source software as a pilot program for all other creative products, ranging from music to movies, the quicker its weaknesses as a mode of production are rendered obvious, the sooner the debate can shift to real issues of how to define and protect IP rights in a time of great technological change. Where should they shrink, and where should they expand?