[Fsfe-ie] The cost of proprietary software

[Malcolm Tyrrell]

Now I'm no economist, but an interesting thought just occured to me.

How could one estimate the negative effect of proprietary software licensing
to the Irish economy? We regularly hear about the positive, e.g. the
success of Irish software companies abroad, or the importance of large
software multinationals to the Irish economy. But a huge majority of
other companies, government bodies, homes, schools, etc must be licensing
proprietory software, leading to a massive loss of efficiency.

I'm wondering if arguments about the benefits of (proprietary) software to
the Irish economy aren't overstated.

It would be interesting to be able to claim on a brochure that "Proprietary software costs the Irish ecomomy ??? Million Euros per year" or something.

Good luck,

Malcohol.

_________________________________________________________________
Sign up for eircom broadband now and get a free two month trial.*
Phone 1850 73 00 73 or visit http://home.eircom.net/broadbandoffer