🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <F0CBvu.oE@a2e.de> phm@a2e.de "PILCH Hartmut" writes:
> philh@vision25.demon.co.uk (Phil Hunt) writes:
> >In article <F0B8I1.475@a2e.de> phm@a2e.de "PILCH Hartmut" writes:
> >> Some social models of financing Open Source development are also
> >> conceivable. I.e. a hardware tax whose revenues are used for public bidding
> >> or prize awarding.
> 
> >IMO this would be a good idea.
> 
> >Note that things like this are already in existance today. For example,
> >much TV programming in Britain is funded by a tax -- the "TV license".
> 
> In Germany, the public television which is funded that way (ARD, ZDF etc)
> produces clearly better quality programs than anything that any private
> station.

The same is more-or-less true of the UK, although IMO one of the
commercial channels -- Channel 4 -- also has quality programs (there's
one on tonight at 11:40 featuring Linus Torvalds).

> Therefore even those people who want to buy a computer without any open
> source software on it already have profited from the existence of an open
> source software code base.  Paying 1% would (although needn't) be justified
> in every single case.

In Britain VAT on computers is 17.5%, so if the 1% Open Source fund
was taken from that, it would be a small fraction of the tax on 
computers.

Of course, if this proposal seemed likely to come into effect, expect
certain people such as Bill Gates to vociferously protest and FUD
against it. This in itself is evidence of how good an idea it is.

-- 
@@--Phil Hunt-----------------------------Don't fear the penguins(*)--@@ 
@@  [*] Disclaimer: this is FREE ADVICE, and is distributed in the    @@
@@  hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; note also  @@
@@  that this advice may not apply if your name is Gates or Ballmer.  @@