OMG! Open Source Software causes hedge fund failures!
This is, without question, the best/worst article on copylefted software that I’ve ever read.
“The expectation of most people running a hedge fund is that their programmers are writing 100% original code, and in most cases that’s probably true,†attorney Bert Wells of the law firm Covington & Burling told Lipper HedgeWorld, but adding that under pressure to develop a program and within a given timeframe, they may “borrow portions of freely available software†– without anyone at the firm, including the tech types, aware that open-source played a part. Such disclosure of enhancements could be disastrous to a hedge fund. Attorney David Lerner of the law firm Morrison Cohen said, in a Lipper HedgeWorld interview, that the “saving grace†of the policy is that according to General Public License, the developer “isn’t required…to disclose the source code, it’s permitted to,†so if the customer doesn’t want it shared, it may be able to keep its secret in-house, but it could never be sure that the developer won’t share the enhancements anyway.
Hear that, developers? If you use any open source software, you can go ahead and give your employer’s code away without fear of repercussion. It’s true! There’s nothing they can do about it! (Except fire you and probably press charges.)