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Pros And Disadvantages Of Proprietary Software

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When I started working at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971, I became part of a software-sharing community that had existed for many years. Sharing of software was not limited to our particular community; it is as old as computers, just as sharing of recipes is as old as cooking.

A nondisclosure agreement means de facto that you promise not to help your neighbor, denying a community who cooperates to achieve goals. “If you share with your neighbor, you are a pirate. If you want any changes, beg us to make them.” [* page 18]
Proprietary software could be seen as an enemy of the society, since it does not permit to change and share the software with other individuals, but this seems not to be understood or just ignored by most of us. Because that’s the truth …show more content…

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In any case “free” does not imply a non-commercial software, but only a software on which you have several freedoms on how to deal with it. [43 *]
Free software is growing, but not for the right reason (we must talk about free software) [31]
It is true that people approaching free software are growing this because users find some practical advantages in using it. This is great, because with this rising interest also affects companies, that are stimulated to develop free programs instead proprietary ones, with the consequence of enlarging the catchment area even further.
Perhaps, the most difficult thing is not to attract new users to adopt free software, but is doing that for the right motive aside for the practical reasons, which is the embrace the philosophy behind free software: freedom. This is a crucial point if we want to have a conscious community and not only one large in numbers. There is a need of people who are willing to fight to proprietary software and not only chose the easiest and most convenient choice possible.
Open Source

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