On Sat, Apr 12, 2003 at 03:11:49PM -0400, Thomas D. Ward wrote: > Once you recognize time and costs of developing an OCR app a good open > source OCR project would be a huge undertaking without a single return. I, personally, reject this argument completely. It can be applied to any software project you like, and, I should say, has been by those advocating proprietary non-free software. "...without a single return"? How do you mean, exactly? Would you say that a free OS (GNU/Linux) was developed without a single return? Sure, it took several years to develop all the pieces of GNU into mature applications, but the fact that you and I are using just such a system proves that there is, in fact, value to it. Apparently *someone* is getting *some* return on the thing, aren't they? Sure, an OCR engine is a different sort of challenge. Still, if it's an interesting enough project to people, it will get done. It is getting done now. Sure, it won't happen tomorrow, but if everyone took the view you seem to be taking here, we'd have no free software. There would be no GNU/Linux. We'd all still be paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars to use a Un*x-like operating system. And what of GNOME accessibility and its accompanying projects (gok, gnopernicus, etc.)? No return on those either, huh? Seems to me that Baum, at least, is waking up to think in a new direction to make their money on gnopernicus. I'd suggest that this needs to happen on a more widespread basis. The days of closed source, proprietary, non-free software for most things that we do every day are numbered. -- Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV/3 | "And if the ground yawned, Phone: (814) 455-7333 | I'd step to the side and say, Email: davros at ycardz.com | "Hey ground! I'm nobody's lunch!" http://www.ycardz.com/ | --Eddie From Ohio
