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   From: david@wubios.wustl.edu (David J. Camp)
   Date: Thu, 22 Nov 90 22:38:17 CST
   Favorite-Ice-Cream: Chocolate
   X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL6]

   I believe it was Isaac Newton who once said, "I stand on the
   shoulders of giants."  The imposition of copyrights that 
   restrict the free sharing of information, including software,
   make it difficult for modern man to share Newton's advantage.

   I support the GNU project and the League for Programming Freedom
   because it supports the basic right to build on the work of others.
   -David-

   david@wubios.wustl.edu             ^     Mr. David J. Camp
   david%wubios@wugate.wustl.edu    < * >   +1 314 382 0584
   ...!uunet!wugate!wubios!david      v     "God loves material things."

The irony is complete: the initial logo for Apple was inspried by the
story of Newton's apple.  Newton, in spite of what he said, was a mean
bastard when it came to intellectual property.  Read the afterward of
Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time".  He pillories Newton
for shamelessly manipulating the course of intellectual discovery and
credit.  According to Hawking, Newton all but killed Leibniz through
political and intellectual schemes.

Building on what Hawking asserts I infer the following.

Clearl Newton clear did not need to take such a savage approach to his
intellectual peers--his place in history was very much assured once he
worked out how the planets moved, but he held Calculus for himself for
nearly thirty years, and released his information only when he knew
that somebody else was getting close enough in their life's effort to
publish something.  These tactics were enough to drive more than one
man mad.

The quotation by Newton is certainly valid, but it was spoken only in
truth--that he could never have accomplished what he did without
working off of what others did.  It was not spoken in reverence, or
out of respect for what others did, and was not spoken as a principle
that he would follow so that others might attain greater heights.

It appears that Apple has taken the same approach to their development
as a company that Newton took some 350 years ago.

Michael