Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> The Case of the Compressed Image
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The Open Source Movement weakens the classic model of property rights
> | by presenting an alternative, viable, vibrant, model which does not
> | involve over-pricing and anti-competitive predatory practices. The
> | current model of property rights encourages monopolistic behavior,
> | non-collaborative, exclusionary innovation (as opposed, for instance,
> | to Linux), and litigiousness. The Open Source movement exposes the
> | myths underlying current property rights philosophy and is thus
> | subversive.
> `----
>
> http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=1858&cid=1&sid=19
>
> Think MP3 sipport and proprietary video codecs; also DRM.
Ever since this rights business started it's been utter pants, worse really,
it has been legal theft.
Back at the beginning when we were forced to write our own software, because
they wasn't any to buy. We all just shared our ideas. Whether it was a
function to parse a line of text or a utility to do a complete job of some
kind. There was money in software, huge money in some cases, because
complete applications were relatively rare. But we tended to not give a
monkeys about that, we just shared, and it was international (provided the
links were up).
Every one of us put the code out on the groups or magazines when they
eventually appeared. Program Now, and others of it's kind, the Scientist
and mathematical range of mags in particular, major places to share ideas.
And of cause, down the pub when you were meant to be at a programmer
convention (what a sad lot we were). Not just code, but structures and
theories too. I bet if the archives were still available we could find
every type of functionality that is in use today in Program Now or the
others.
There is hardly a bit of software anywhere that dosen't include someone
elses code or ideas.
Then what did we get, 'some foriegn country's companies suddenly claiming
the rights for software we know they didn't write.
I promise that I am not anti-'this foriegn country'. I love the place and
the people. But this is an area where their legal/commerce systems seems to
have said 'Screw you lot, we claim these rights whether they ours to claim
or not'. I don't mean to sound offensive, but it is the way it seems to be
. It is only the EU after some preasure that has put it's foot down to try
to halt it, because they know that much of what is being claimed came from
over here.
This is software that was written all over the world (where computers
existed). As far as 'Propriatary Rights' goes seems it is only a matter of
who put the claim into 'the foriegn countries's claims court first. Like
the gold rush, doesn't matter if you ambush a few riders, blow up a few
trains, who ever is first at the claims court gets the claim. So the best
placed group to win the most claims are the bandits. Well that just isn't
the way things are meant to be, you can't trample people underfoot and
expect them to be on your side, in fact ... oh blow it, I was going to go
into 'How to create the sort of people likely to become terrorists', but
I've typed it so many times I can't be arsed any more.
It wouldn't be fair if everyone who really developed the functionality that
these claims cover end up having to pay for the use of the function they
created. They can't even rewrite it, because it is no longer the code
itself that is covered by the rights, it is the idea.
Remember that much of this development was not done under a company name,
and much functionality was developed in parallel. Who could truely say if
'This' utility is the one written by Joe Bloggs or is in fact the one that
Gregore Lafont wrote with his German mate Hants. When you optimise
assembler, you are bound to get very simmilar looking functions. Out of 20
issolated programmers all given the same task, you will get 20 programs,
but you don't get 20 algorithms different enough to say one is better than
another, and each will do the task.
The fairest way I think is to just let it go. What is written is written and
no one has the rights to it. It is free, which is what it was always meant
to be.
If we did get the right to charge all of a sudden, I want each user of PDF
to send me a fiver, first base, I was there, PDF was based on PS but needed
a structure change to formalise it, it was also desperate for utilities. If
you find a very early PDF document you will see that it is still in plain
text format (a description of the document) and so very like PS you can't
tell the difference. (the format has changed more now with objects etc, but
that is besides the point). I also want paying from everyone who ever used
one of my printer PS scripts. Yes I know lots of people wrote those, but I
did too so I get a cut. I also get money off NASA as it happens from my MOD
days (might not count because I was on a salery, but I did a few quickies
that were just off the cuff software to make something easier for them
(mainly because I was bored waiting for them to do a mundane job). Banks!!!
Just remembered my cheque reader (still in use today) if you go to the bank
you will see a device with a U shaped grove, you can fit 100 cheques into
it and it will read them, picking out the duds and feeding the good ones to
a computer. (all analogue, not a computer chip anywhere). Credit card
reader, hearing analyser ... gads the list goes on.
No, its all stupid, there isn't anything that should be paid, its written,
published and available to anyone. The people who own it now didn't even
exist when the thing they are selling was created.
And now look what you've done, someone has nipped into the kitchen and used
all the water out the kettle, I'll have to fill it up and wait for it to
boil again. So while I'm waiting lets see who else I can grumble at ....
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