Pointless

Open source vs. closed source is a pointless distinction for the 99.9% of computer users who don't write code. If you download the binaries, you have *no idea* what is in them, or indeed where they came from. Anything can be spoofed, as the internet was designed to be robust, not secure. It is effectivly anonymous, despite all the recent privacy/data mining/phorm type stuff, because end users have no way of telling that the *provider* is genuine, you just have to trust them.

The whole net as it stands is hack built on hack built on 30-year-old-hack, and the conflicting requirements of privacy, anonymity, verification, mobility, deniability, accountability, and trust will never be reconciled until we start from the ground and rebuild the net (and all of 'connected computing', (ghastly phrase,)) to include all these things.

It's not about OS wars, corporate giants vs public spirited coders, or any of that bullsh1te, fundamentaly it's about trust, and at the moment you can't trust anyone.

Where's the icon showing a precariously balanced pile of hardware with a confused looking punter at the top when you need it?