🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <SJA.89Oct16125938@sirius.hut.fi> sja@sirius.hut.fi (Sakari Jalovaara) writes:

   	We all know that some people (many people) disagree with me.  Some of
   	them have already said so.  If you are another one of these people,
   	please spare the readers another message to this effect.  Your opinion
   	has already been expressed--saying it again won't help anyone.

   Does this say: "shut up if you disagree with me"?

No.  It says: "Your opinion has been expressed and noted.  Reiterating
your opinion is not useful, as your opinion has already been noted."

   You can do anything with public domain code, including sell it.
   Suppose an "evil software hoarder" (aka the bogey man) grabs your
   program, makes proprietary modifications to it and sells it for money.

The problem with public domain code is this: If I want my code to be
and remain freely available, I can't put it in the public domain.  If
I do, someone can take my code and mix it with theirs.  My code effectively
becomes theirs.  This is not acceptable to me.

   Most software is not "fun hacks" like compilers and re-writes of
   "awk," but rather programs like accounting systems, factory stock
   accounting systems and control programs for VCRs.  Are YOU going to
   write these programs if you don't get paid for them?  Do you think a
   company will hire people to write them if the company doesn't get
   something out of it (e.g. a "competitive edge")?  Will VCR buyers be
   happy if nobody spends money on the development of VCR software?

Why should the company get two things out of funding the development
of VCR sofware, the code itself, and keeping the code from others?
You see, if they don't write the code, they won't be able to produce
VCRs.

You can argue that this is a powerful disincentive to creation.  Why should
someone create software if someone else can come along and copy it?  Going
back to the VCR example, the first company to produce it pays all the
costs of the development.  The second company pays only the cost of
adapting the first company's VCR software to their own hardware.

But of course, the same thing goes on all the time.  For the most part,
the second manufacturer of a product can steal most of the ideas from the
first product.  Why should software be different?
--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu])
Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be granted thee.
A recession now appears more than 2 years away -- John D. Mathon, 4 Oct 1989.