With your permission, I would like to post your e-mail along with the
article. If you do not reply at all to this e-mail, then I will
assume that you do not want it posted.

As for the content of your e-mail....

I think your concerns are valid ones and as you said, Open Source is
not pixie dust you can sprinkle on a software project which will
turn it into some kind of miracle system.

I got a bit confused about exactly what the panel was trying to
address with the use of Open Source licenses. It seemed
to me that it was mixing up a bit the use of publishing code using an
Open Source license for general software projects and HPC specific
projects. I don't think you can expect the Internet community to write
a full blown HPC centric OS for Blue Gene. If that is what the panel
was trying to address, I think it is asking way to much of the "Open
Source" community. But if you are addressing issues of standards,
(i.e. MPI interface or some kind of HPC POSIX standards) then I
believe that Open Source licensing issues will go a long way in
pushing forward that particular aspect of the field.

>From my background, I see a lot of government funding go into
development of technology. For me, the use of Open Source licensing
models means a much more direct transfer of technology into the market
place. The big issue is that it's the world market place and not just
the US market place. Should a US citizen pay for research and
development which could help out the Chinese? For certain types for
fundamental developments, like protocols and standards, which help
everyone interface, then yes, distributing the technology under an
Open Source license is the best thing to do. This will allow the
Chinese to write software which will interface with my B2B business as
well as mine with theirs. If it's technology which is intended
is to give US industry an edge over other competitors, (i.e. a better
word processor or whatever) then perhaps an Open Source license is not
the way to go.

The issue is very complicated and if not addressed correctly, it can
do harm for both the Open Source community and the IP dependent
industries like Microsoft.

Thank you for your e-mail.

Steve.

P.S. I got your power point slides. I will post them along with
the article. Again, with your permission.