From Slashdot: corporations taking unfair advantage of open source

[mouser]

from http://linux.slashdo...?tid=187&tid=106
An anonymous reader writes "A top European Commission official has accused major IT players such as IBM, HP and Sun of using the open source community as mere subcontractors rather than encouraging them to develop independent commercial products. Jesús Villasante, head of software technologies at the commission, said: 'The open source community today [is a] subcontractor of American multinationals. Open source communities need to take themselves seriously and realise they have contribution to themselves and society. From the moment they realise they are part of the evolution of society and try to influence it, we will be moving in the right direction.'"

[tenseiken]

Mega-corporations abusing the little guy?  You've gotta be kidding me.

In other news: the sun is bright, water is wet, and dirt is dirty.

[zridling]

The most serious problem is the abuse of the GNU General Public License, where corporations want to have it both ways — to get code for free, and then turn around and sell it for profit. You don't like it? "Sue us," says Corporate Amerika. "We have enough lawyers to fill cities if you come at us."

What if a company appropriated your work and ideas and sold them for a fortune and sued you if you protested and claimed your authorship of the code? I'd say light the torches and bring the hammers, boys, pain is coming.