[lelio]

Am I missing something? I see the potentional for a lot of cheating (taking - but not giving back). How will this cheating affect open source development.

Is the law a good example of open source? All the case verdicts are out there to look at (albeit for a fee for obscure ones). Any opinion that a judge renders is freely available.

Has the price for lawyers gone down? Is the market pretty healthy (barring wacko McDonald's coffee lawsuits)?

I believe there's a shift out there from buying "software" that will solve your problems to buying solutions. Sun and IBM have seen the light in this and they're pushing open source as it drives their costs down and increases their value. Do you as a small business really want to manage your webserver or inventory?

[CharacterCounts]

Is the law a good example of open source?

No!

Trust me on this. I'm a lawyer.

99% of the law (the common law) is created by lawyers and judges in an adversarial system. The end law may be available to anyone, but no lawyer or judge created it for free.