Linux Economics

While I don't agree with everything in this article it makes some good points and brings up a topic I continually see – that Linux, and more specifically Open Source, is bad for the economy, will cause famine, and promotes communism. Now, while it's true that some OSS proponents do share some utopian similarities with communistic type ideals, the idea that OSS is anti-capitalistic is absurd. What Linux does do is threaten the monopolies and huge megalithic corporations by leveling the playing field a bit. These companies, in turn, do not like OSS and have the money to lobby against it and spread FUD. The reality is that Linux creates jobs, or at least has the potential to in a “net gain” sort of sense. What do I mean? Since MSFT has quite the monopoly going, they make an extremely large sum of money per employee. So let's say a large company with a lower revenue per employee (ie. most companies) saves 20M by going with a Linux solution. Since MSFT will lose revenue and possibly have to cut people, jobs may be lost (this ignore the fact that with it's current revenue per employee they could handle the same amount of employees with much less revenue). However, the company that moved to Linux will have saved money and can now expand, which means hiring people. Since they make less per employee, they can hire more people with that 20M then MSFT lost. Thus you have a net gain. There are many other ways that OSS is pro-capitalist, and I'll make a point of covering them in the near future. If you have any examples, feel free to comment.
–jeremy