Since the free open source software movement is pretty well held up by the costly software people, I don't see Game Boy's predictions happening.
Look at Torvalds. He knows what he's doing and he gets paid for it!
It's all about having a happy medium, and I think it is very possible if not already happening right now.
Some types of software only really do one thing (and yet have billions of horribly made clones bouncing around), and so is better replaced by a single open source alternative. For one thing, when that single replacement is open source then somebody won't quickly build yet another competing product as soon as they find something wrong with what they were using.
There is also lots of software that is required to build software, like your operating system and your web browser. That stuff also doesn't really change, so may as well try to have an integrated and free solution.
On the other hand, there are the products of that stuff. Games, 3D modelling tools, image editors. I have noticed open source software for the most part staying out of that realm.
There are a few games, but they are generally awful (unless you count the numerous excellent free mods on the Source engine).
The only really well-known open source 3D modelling tool is Blender, and that thing is, while a completely competent and stable modelling / rendering tool, absolutely abysmally made from the outside to the point that I (and probably many others) really do not want to see it on the inside.
Then, of course, there is GIMP. It's an image editor, and it has worked pretty well, but it really comes nowhere near Photoshop or other proprietary image editors.
So my thought on the matter is that open source has its place for building blocks. I don't think that many people want to give away all of their work for any big, single-handed products which are made more and more easy to do thanks to free software.
Look at Torvalds. He knows what he's doing and he gets paid for it!
It's all about having a happy medium, and I think it is very possible if not already happening right now.
Some types of software only really do one thing (and yet have billions of horribly made clones bouncing around), and so is better replaced by a single open source alternative. For one thing, when that single replacement is open source then somebody won't quickly build yet another competing product as soon as they find something wrong with what they were using.
There is also lots of software that is required to build software, like your operating system and your web browser. That stuff also doesn't really change, so may as well try to have an integrated and free solution.
On the other hand, there are the products of that stuff. Games, 3D modelling tools, image editors. I have noticed open source software for the most part staying out of that realm.
There are a few games, but they are generally awful (unless you count the numerous excellent free mods on the Source engine).
The only really well-known open source 3D modelling tool is Blender, and that thing is, while a completely competent and stable modelling / rendering tool, absolutely abysmally made from the outside to the point that I (and probably many others) really do not want to see it on the inside.
Then, of course, there is GIMP. It's an image editor, and it has worked pretty well, but it really comes nowhere near Photoshop or other proprietary image editors.
So my thought on the matter is that open source has its place for building blocks. I don't think that many people want to give away all of their work for any big, single-handed products which are made more and more easy to do thanks to free software.