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Comment Software dumping and the consequences of OSS (Score 1) 254

I have seen a lot of comments in the press and in the DOJ trial about Microsoft destroying the web browser market by taking a product that obviously costs time and money to develop (Internet Explorer, IIS) and "dumping" it for free on the market.

Most analysts critical to Microsoft claim that this is a bad thing for consumers in the long run, even if in the short term they (the consumers) benefit from the monetarily free program. The reason it's a bad thing is because other companies no longer have the incentive to create web servers and browsers; thus competition is destroyed and innovation stifled.

My question for ESR is the following: is he concerned that these same accusations might apply to the OSS community and its abundant production of monetarily free software? Furthermore, does the issue of "dumping" bother him with regards to OSS, or does he believe that software "dumping" is a legitimate practice, or does the question simply not apply?

Thank you.

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