Journal Trillan's Journal: When you can't win an argument... 18
Believing in Open Source is one thing -- I've contributed code to LGPL and GPL (PILRC) projects, and I've even started a BOOST project (MorePalmOS -- the BOST license is similiar to BSD, but without the need for credit). But somehow, believing that the license that code is distributed under should be respected makes me an enemy of rabid Open Source advocates.
I've spent over 1,000 hours on my current product. If you value my time at BC's minimum wage, that's $8,000 invested so far -- counting only raw labour. (A more fair price would include at least part of my PC's cost, the development software I had to buy specifically for this project since the Open Source tools were not adequate, and the hardware I had to purchase specifically for this project.) By the end of this project, I expect over 10,000 hours of my effort to be focused on this project. That does not include testing, graphics work or marketing.
These people would have you believe that they should be legally free to not only use my product without paying for it, but also to offer it to other users for free or even sell it to other users.
Slashdot really is a den of antisocial assholes, isn't it?
sheldonb (68034) has made you their foe.
If you'd like to, view or edit your friends and foes.
master_meio (834537) has made you their foe.
If you'd like to, view or edit your friends and foes.
sqrt(2) (786011) has made you their foe.
If you'd like to, view or edit your friends and foes.
So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
No, you're not. People can have disagreements. It is when you run off and use the foe system because you can't win an argument that you become an antisocial asshole. I have absolutely nothing against you.
Ugh. It's first thing in the morning here. Expect a more coherent post later. :)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Beg pardon, poor wording made that unclear. Let me fix it.
It is when a person uses the foe system because he or she disagrees with an argument and is unable to justify his or her point of view that he or she become an antisocial asshole.
That's what I meant to say.
I actually just finished writing another post which better explains this... I'll just paste it in here.
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I agree with you there are alternate methods of getting revenue for a lot of industries. However, none of what you mentioned was a
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Also, if you work for a big company, you probably don't own yo
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Within certain markets, yes, it's definitely possible to make money using GPL. However, even GPL code is copyright protected. Without copyrightr law, there would be no obligation for anyone to release source code for modifications -- and a lot of other details. The GPL text has quite a few requiments, all of which are part of the terms of use, which only apply because of the copyright. (Despite the name, copyleft definitely uses copyright law.)
I don't believe there's a way to make much -- any? -- money wi
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Even so, you've successfully proven that it is in your best interest for copyright laws to be the way they are. But, shouldn't society pass legislation to do what is best for society? While no copyrights would hurt you, it would certainly make life better for the rest of society.
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Society is nothing more than the sum of the people hwo make it up. My sofrware packages have been of bennefit to everyone who has used them. How, then, do you think removing copyright law would be better for the rest of society? Most people consider options to be a good thing.
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
(I.E. the same way Red Hat stays in business)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Frankly, there's absolutely no way. I think you are badly underestimating the amount of effort required to develop software.
Even simple software generally takes at least 2 people working 50% of full time each for a year just to deveelop a 1.0. You're just not going to get that kind of investment when promsing the programmers little to no return.
Support contracts may work for an OS used in enterprise. But there's no way they'd work in (for instance) offline gaming.
I'm curious -- how many times have you
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Then why, pray tell, is there such a large amount of available free software? Not everyone codes for a living you know. But some of the people who do code just for fun or to write software for their own needs also sell their work. If there were no copyright laws, they would be unable to do this, but they would still be writing software. There would be no reason not to give it away for free, so at least some of the people would, thus increasing the amount of available free
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Show me the free console games or first of market programs. I can save you time -- there aren't any. Free software breaks very little new ground.
And, again, how much have you donated for free software? Not counting software that is really shareware due to crippled features or nags.
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Oh, and *I* haven't donated to F/LOSS, but others have.
BTW I just thought of a good idea: couldn't the government fund F/LOSS? Free software benefits everyone, why not give gov't jobs to programmers to make free software? After all, isn't making life better for citizens one of the main points of government?
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Ah, but free software does not benefit everyone. That's a bad assumption.
Free software is only a benefit to users when no sufficiently superior commercial product exists.
That doesn't mean that's the only time it is used, just that it's the only time it's of benefit. In cases where a superior commerical product does exist, users will often overlook the commerical product due to price. However, they'll then spend much more effort in getting the free software to do the job. (And I don't mean in terms of ju
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:1)
Re:So I'm an antisocial asshole? (Score:2)