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I hate to get grinchy this close to Xmas, but no one on this day is more deserving than Dave Winer.

Wired ran a story today on Wesley Clark’s open source project, which includes blogging, social networking, and campaign-tracking software, along with a bit about similar projects headed up by Howard Dean.

“Open source for us symbolizes organizational transparency. We really feel that it’s important that all development we do has this methodology behind it,” said Clark TechCorps project manager Josh Hendler.

Open source also offers concrete advantages in a campaign environment, where people are both chronically short on time and reluctant to spend money on anything but advertising and fund raising, Clark technology director Josh Lerner said.

All very logical, don’t you think? It’s just the application of campaign volunteers to create software they need to rally people around the candidate, rather than making phone calls and stuffing envelopes. It’s an economical approach in a very expensive environment.

But it’s not enough to have a need and a few good hands, according to Winer. He says you’re an asshole unless you pay for the software. Winer’s retort:

Wouldn’t it be great if Dean and Clark went after Viacom, ClearChannel and Time-Warner, instead of the tiny companies that make blogging and social networking tools.

I find myself hoping they get their asses kicked, hard. I don’t expect much of Bush, but I doubt seriously that he would undermine the mostly American software industry by competing with it with free software.

So, the only good protectionism is my protectionism. (See also: the only moral abortion is my abortion.)

This argument is so wrong-headed, I don’t know where exactly to start. First off, how is a candidate going to go after the major media during the election cycle? I could swear that the point, at this stage, is to get elected to office. Nobody has the resources to create an alternative network and infiltrate cable carriers between now and when it’s important, which makes this argument a red herring. What they do have, and what Dean and Clark have had for months now, is a steady supply of geeky supporters (and I say that with love, and a Palm clipped proudly to my pants).

This is a guy who made his money on blogging software, and good for him. But it was not Winer’s right to make that money, and it’s not the responsibility of the rest of the world not to produce a similar product for free. He’s in a market with a low barrier to entry, which means that if he’s a good businessman, he can stand on the features of his product that are difficult to implement anywhere else. Instead, he rails against free software and its adherents, claiming that they’re out to “undermine the mostly American software industry.” This is one of the arguments SCO is attempting, to the shock and delight of the free-software movement: open-source code destroys the nature of commerce. That’s a pure bullshit argument down to the core, and I’m extremely disappointed to see Winer give credence to it in a fit of self-service.

Particularly when open source had such an impact on his own market: the advent of open-source and other freely-available blogging software, and the hundreds of packages and plugins that appeared, drove users toward well-supported, easy-to-use systems. Winer should be able to acknowledge that competition from open source pushes commercial developers. But no, more bullshit:

People who work for free have no incentive to please users, or even create usable software.

So, fold up your tents and go home, open source developers. Turns out you weren’t needed, and you’ll never amount to anything. It was a mistake to support your favorite candidate with your talents.

Or maybe, just maybe, Winer’s off his meds. Your call.