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Comment by tzakrajs | Hacker News Reader

Open source software is like oxygen, big companies can burn really big fires and individuals can light their candle with it. We are all responsible for replenishing the oxygen in the air by planting trees. If the oxygen dies, so do the fires. Likewise companies have pinned their futures on OSS. They are investing.

Edit: please downvote me dogmatic stallman types

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As a Stallman fan, I belive most of us would agree with you that this is how things should be, but ultimately would dismiss your point as utopian because the primary objection is that big companies are not really investing in (F)OSS.

Like with the "Jeff Bezos doesn't like contributions to OSS" rumors, there's a general impression that outside some exceptions, companies are not really interested in keeping a healthy community even if they could ultimately benefit with it.

> big companies can burn really big fires and individuals can light their candle with it.

Big companies start as individuals. I don't think your comment effectively communicates your intent...maybe something about wealth distribution or how corporations are immoral. I don't completely disagree with these concepts.

I have been a follower of stallmanism for many years, and I think his voice is a crucial antidote to the all-money, all-control centralized software culture that developed as the early computer revolution encountered mainstream capitalism, but I think you are completely spot-on in your analysis.

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