The FSF proved them wrong. Linux proved them wrong again. If the naysayers are right this time, it will be a first. This is exactly backwards, as any cryptographer will tell you. Security through obscurity just does not work.
Closed sources do three bad things.
Linux had fix patches within hours. Closed-source OSs didn't plug the hole for months. Alan Cox has written an excellent article on The Risks of Closed Source Computing . The Open Source Initiative does not have a position on whether ideas can be owned, whether patents are good or bad, or any of the related controversies. We think the economic self-interest arguments for open source are strong enough that nobody needs to go on any moral crusades about it.