Re: Open source WO (was: Apple, Microsoft, Java and the Web?)

>  So it's not like
> Apple can toss the source out and reap the rewards;

That's true. I agree that the costs/investments after open-source
would be nearly as high as today (Apple engineers) - but the new
benefits of an active community could be substantial.

> And there's a catch-22 here - right now the group of people
> who would contribute is small, so it's not really worth their while
> to do it.  But the community isn't likely to grow larger unless they
> do it.

That is my issue as more and more viable open source alternatives keep
coming up (RoR etc.) show up, so the community may further
shrink...the lead is narrowing.

> Just to be clear, I would be thrilled if they open sourced it.  I
> just haven't seen any flying pigs lately...

I hope the pigs learn to fly at WWDC 2007 or WWDC 2008 :)

Maybe my earlier post sounded too alarming, let's wait for the WWDC
2006 news/changes to settle in. I hope these changes will give Apple
the confidence over the coming 12-24 months to go "all the way". Let's
compare it with the car industry without breaking any NDA :)

Soon, there is a "hybrid" car being tested - and hopefully one day a
true fuell-cell car.

Marc