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Free Software and Intellectual Property

The open source community stands in clear ground when they speak of free software. That software should be freely used by everyone, free to be modified and distributed with very few limits. One limitation is you can't profit (as in money) from code you took free from the community. This limitation has been successfully defended in court, so there is legal basis here.

Successful commercial entities based on this model are thriving. In fact, in this bleak economic times their business model is the most tailor-fit to survive, even dominate. Selling code is becoming untenable in the light of this movement. For now, microsoft is the giant defending this realm from all sides. Microsoft products make up 90 percent of operating systems being used by personal computers globally. Due to this overwhelming presence and to its marketing powers open source battles a way of computing that will remain in its seat of influence for many years to come.

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