Until recently, closed-source software, while annoying for the reasons discussed before, has been quite productive at spurring innovation. Recently, however, the flaws have truly started to show themselves. Two new developments in particular are quite disturbing. The first is the advent of software patents in the mid eighties. Software patents, which expire in 17 years in the US, have been widely accused of stifling the software industries innovation. (The League for Programming Freedom 1991)
The other new development is the shift from the concept of software as property that is owned to something that you "lease" from the author. In "Copyrant" (2000) the shift of several larger software manufacturers to this new concept of software id discussed in great detail.. Under this new structure, the consumer doesn't even own the executable code they buy, rather they are borrowing it from the company. Recent End-User License Agreements (EULAs) that ship with very common and popular software packages are quite adept at removing the rights of the purchaser. Worse, the particular articles are buried in the EULAs that most consumers just click "Agree" to, without actually reading what they are signing away.
Equally chilling is the fact that these companies are so severely limiting user rights while simultaneously divorcing themselves from any of the dangers of their software (Nissenbaum 1999).
These trends are quite disturbing, as they remove the last few rights that consumers have. One very effective way to combat this trend is to embrace Open Source development.