Capitalism and Linux

I read Freddy Martinez's blog post about not bashing Windows and started writing a comment, and realized that it was much longer than his initial post, so I figured I'd just post it to my own blog, since I don't post here enough anyway.

Like Freddy, I have capitalist ideals. When people were telling me about Linux a few years ago, I had the hardest time comprehending how a free operating system could even get off the ground. There are a couple things to consider.

Firstly, I realized that free human interaction naturally and rightly includes both selfish competition as well as selfless collaboration. I've realized that the bottom line is freedom, not so much capitalism, if we are to define capitalism as selfish competition within a free market. (If you define capitalism just as a free market, that can also include the selfless collaboration if you think about it). So, people often get a lot of things done in the name of selfishness, as they're rewarded for their work with money. But people also can also accomplish a lot in a collaborative environment, something I was too naive to recognize back then. As much as human nature can be selfish and may often require capitalism to accomplish anything, there is also a nicer side of it. Remember that we have friends and families. As it is, capitalism and communism coexist peacefully, in a sense. (Yes I do consider free software somewhat of a a form of communism, and since there no regulations and nobody's forced to do anything it doesn't bother me). I heard a funny thing one day. A family should work like communism; from each according to his/her ability, to each according to his/her needs. Honestly, the only reason to hate communism is if it a) forces people into it (government imposed, particularly) or b) doesn't work. Free Software is free market communism, and so far it seems to work, and I think it's fantastic. Though, to be honest, I'm still pretty surprised it works as well as it does, but I think I'll grow to understand it eventually.

Secondly, and hopefully not completely nullifying the first point, Linux does make money, and as long as it's Free to the users and developers, I'm pretty sure it even has Stallman's blessings. Think about this, there's a utility that company A and company B both want. They could both invest the effort to make it, or they could both spend half the resources to make it together. Now, as the tool improves over time, the companies will patch it. Would it make sense to keep the patch for themselves? Not so much, because they would then have to keep patching each new version as it came out. Might as well submit their patch so it gets included in new versions. They make the software freely available (rather than secret between their two companies) so that Companies C and D come into the picture and start using and improving it further. Still, in a way this somewhat fits the communal view. I think it's similar to committees formed by multiple companies for their mutual benefit. (Yes the RIAA is a communist drone and must be stopped)