tuxtoday

Since I started using Linux a couple years ago, I’ve gotten to understand the concepts of free software and by now I really don’t want to use any proprietary software if isn’t “necessary”.
By “necessary” I mean that I should be able to utilize 3d-rendering and such, and in many cases I do need a proprietary driver to make full use of my graphics card. I also “need” the support of some non-free codecs, simply because the other devices I use, other than my computers doesn’t support the free alternatives to those codecs.
On the other hand, the next portable media-device I buy will have to be one that supports ogg vorbis or flac, and if it plays video I would really want it to support theora/matroska if that’s possible.

So, I’ve really gotten into the free software way ot thinking, and it has become an essential thing to consider then making som choices, like buying hardware, or purchasing music.

Now I’m asking all of you this “simple” question:

“Closed source software: Should it exist?”

Tell me, what do you think? I’m asking this because there are a lot of different views on closed source software. Some people wouldn’t touch it with a stick, and other only uses proprietary stuff when no open source alternative exist. Then there’s some people that have no big issue with things being open source, and there’s probably a few more categories that I haven’t mentioned.

I’m probably a member of the second of the three above categories, and to put a bit more detail on how I feel about proprietary software I can tell you guys this:

In my ideal world we would have no proprietary closed source software, except(!) maybe for games, who’s developers really can’t make money in a lot of other ways than by selling their software. Support deals on games will probably never be a big hit, if you don’t count subscriptions to online gaming services.

Do you agree with me or am I completely wrong? Write a comment and give me your views!