Open source software owes its existence to the convergence of three technologies:
- Fast, cheap computer hardware
- Fast, cheap networking
- Cheap compilers
Inexpensive PC hardware provides the raw grist for programmers. GCC provided a reasonable way to program this hardware. Cheap networking allowed the fruits of their labors to be propagated to people all over the world.
We’d like to think that free software will prove to be a never ending resource, but I believe that open source software is in
serious danger of becoming extinct.