George Barca wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:41:58 +1100, Terry Porter
<linux-2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What type of compensation are you referring to?
Being compensated if I write a book rather than people feeling
they can freely copy it and give it to their friends for example.
Being compensated for writing a book means getting a publisher to print
it and pay you for it. What would you do if 90% of books were printed
by one publisher, and they rejected your book?
I don't believe in giving stuff away unless every single entity
is giving stuff away and that will never happen.
There are plenty of people giving stuff away right now. Richard Stallman
gave away GCC. 10s of thousands of GPL coders have given away their code,
including myself.
Bad choice of words.
You haven't stop choosing your words poorly.
What I meant was that the only way the give
it all away free system works is if everyone is doing it.
No, we need not be part of a global hive mind for free software to work.
Look at free software for example.
Some person sits at home nights and weekends writing a CD burning
program and then gives away the source for others to use.
That's only one way that free software gets written. Another way is a
big company like IBM or Sun pays somebody to write free software.
Now
Dell comes along and packages it as part of pre-installed Linux
on a system and makes a profit.
Now Dell gets to keep more of their razon-thin margins instead of
letting M$ cream off the profits.
I personally think the person is an idiot and if the program was
good enough he should protect it and sell it commercially.
The problem is M$ already has all the stooges and lackies it needs.
However if everyone was just using the program and giving it
away, like the author did, then it wouldn't matter.
The problem arises when some make money off the work of others.
We did so willingly, and were happy to do so. Before I gave my code away,
(under the GPL) I already felt compensated.
I don't believe in patenting a keystroke but yet I do believe
that if a person comes up with a new method of calculating Pi to
the billionth decimal place, he should be compensated by anyone
who uses his method commercially.
Basically I believe that if a person plows, sows seeds,
cultivates the land and so forth he should be entitled to reap
the benefits and he should be protected from others trying to
worm their way into his action.
One thing I find disturbing about the Linux/OSS community is that
their seems to be a sub-group of activists that for some odd
reason feel they are entitled to everything for free.
Which sub-group of activists are you referring to ?
People who can't understand that patents and copyrights and other
forms of protection exist for a reason and that reason is to
ensure that the work that was put into the product is paid for in
some fashion.
The problem is the courts don't have enough expertise to rule on
software patents and so are granted patents for things that would
readily occur to anybody in the industry.
In general the common denominator with these people is that they
have done zero to contribute and often are the first to cry foul
when their insignificant work may be compromised.
Who for instance ?
Nobody in particular but if you look at Linux blogs and so forth
you will find these freedom fighters who are often using the very
software they loath by day and advocating the use of Linux and
free software by night. Of course they are entitled to give their
work away if they wish.
IOW, you're stereotyping all Linux/FOSS advocates according to some
vague impression you formed by reading some blogs.
It seems to me that the OSS community in general is chock full of
bitter people who expect others to give their works away but yet
won't give their own works away.
Maybe, but the GPL community is not.
I second that.
As an example, how many people here use or program Windows by day
and advocate Linux by night?
I can't see how that is relevant. Many here are forced to use Windows in
their day jobs, they have no choice.
True but when you read about it in a Linux advocacy group it kind
of sours the message in my opinion.
You seem to have missed the fact they have no choice in using Windows,
in spite of starting your answer with "true."
I'll never be interested in your code if it's not GPL or Linux.
And as a Linux advocate, that is how it should be!
No, not really. There are commercial programs for Linux. Being a
Linux advocate doesn't equate to being opposed to all commercial software.
|
