Ken Elliott wrote:
>>> It might be more accurate then to say that
>>>
> *writing* proprietary software is immoral since you could be hurting other
> people with buggy code that they cannot fix or placing people in an
> unsecure computing environment they cannot make secure.
>
> Would you also suggest that it is immoral to design a car that could cause
> people to be killed, or a lock that could not be perfectly secure?
>
> Is if moral for you to run your computer, which is made using a process that
> generates hazardous waste, and poisons the planet?
>
> If you take the argument far enough, you'll find almost everything could be
> considered immoral.
>
> Ken Elliott
>
>
No, I would tend to agree around a point made here. If something is
being sold, it should be worth what is being charged, morally. by that
rational, yes if a manufacturer is selling a car that has such a
sub-standard design that it's passengers will invariably die or be
seriously injured in an accident, that is immoral. By the software
parallel, if the proprietary software cripples the machine and renders
it useless despite the promises of the provider, that would be immoral.
As far as I can tell, the binary Nvidia drivers don't do this when used
properly. That would be the difference to me. Maybe others have had
different luck with their video drivers, but once I figured out what I
was doing to install mine wrong, I haven't had an ounce of trouble from
them. I really don't care whether you are running Linux, Windows, OS-X
or Solaris, to name a few examples, I don't believe that there is a
well-balanced system that anyone can use that has all one or the other.
And, that's not a defeatist attitude like, "well, we gotta take it
'cause they're dishin' it out," that's me saying that talent and good
programming occur in all kinds of settings and scenarios and if you are
defining morality based upon who employs the programmer, you will miss
out on some great things. Period.
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