Re: Publicly funded software development (was: KDE v. Gnome)

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Article #1196

#1196

From: Malcolm McMahon
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 00:00

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On 10 Oct 1998 01:14:22 +0200, Axel Boldt <axel@uni-paderborn.de> wrote:

>Maciej Stachowiak <mstachow@mit.edu> writes:
>> Axel Boldt <axel@uni-paderborn.de> wrote:
>> >Maciej Stachowiak <mstachow@mit.edu> writes:
>> >
>> > > The original proposal I was responding to, was to have a hardware tax
>> > > that would be the sole form of funding Open Source software. While
>> > > money is not the sole factor for project viability, government funding
>> > > of some projects would produce massive distortions in where the
>> > > development effort goes.
>> >
>> > Note however that this is exactly how science works. Government
>> > decides what to fund, with tax money. Both capitalist and socialist
>> > societies have used this model; it seems to be a clear winner in the
>> > marketplace of ideas.
>> 
>> This is not the only way science works,
>
>That is correct, but nobody is proposing that tax-supported freeware
>should be the only way to produce software either.
>

Ah, but they are. The whole point of the excercise is to get rid of
copyright which effectively eliminates the way most software (and
indeed, most intelectual product) is paid for.

The FSF already produces a range of software with money from various
commercial sponsers and that's fine.

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From: malcolm@pigsty.demon.co.uk (Malcolm McMahon)
Subject: Re: Publicly funded software development (was: KDE v. Gnome)
Date: 1998/10/10
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