Code Copying Survey for Developers 389
Struan Robertson writes "With all the controversy surrounding SCO's allegations that its Unix code was copied into Linux, we're running a survey with ZD Net to gauge industry practice on code copying. Do you keep a code library? Do you take it from one employer to another? These are the questions we're asking. All answers will be anonymous. The results - with expert legal analysis - will be published free - we're not doing this to sell reports etc. If you're a developer and happy to help, see our
questions on SurveyMonkey.com."
Loop (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Loop (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Loop (Score:3, Insightful)
It could have happened (Score:5, Insightful)
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Create a WAP server [chiralsoftware.net]
Re:It could have happened (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It could have happened (Score:3, Insightful)
Transistor patent (Score:4, Interesting)
Part of this is that the transistor is a physical thing, not easily made without a large investment in equipment. If I am a little guy, I just buy transistors and I am free and clear. If I am a big enough guy to make my own transistors, I pay whatever tribute money to the transistor patent holder to set up my transistor fabrication plant.
You could say that a compiler, while not a physical thing is not an easy to make thing, so if compilers were patented, I would just pay the license holder for the use of compiler just as I do now. But a linked list is not a tangible thing -- I don't buy a supply of linked lists to incorporate into customer products. A linked list simply comes into being when I order instructions in a special way.
The hardware store sells an apple picker that is a basket with prongs on the end of a stick. I suppose that device is patented -- if I want to build my own stick with a basket on the end, I suppose I could and just not tell anyone about it, or I could buy the patented gadget from the hardware store and pick without recrimination.
Suppose the patent wasn't for "basket with prongs on end of stick that proves useful for harvesting fruit" but on the "process of removing apples from high branches by using a mechanical device to make contact with the apples" and someone went around sending cease and desist orders to people picking fruit.
Or how about if someone discovered that digging holes in your lawn on a three foot grid prevented weeds. I wouldn't have any problem with someone patenting a "lawn rejuvenator device" for sale at the hardware store, but suppose I heard of this idea and started digging those holes with an ordinary shovel (which I had already paid for) and someone sent me a letter that I couldn't do that without paying a fee?
I say that there is a difference in kind between hardware and software patents and that software patents stink.
Re:It could have happened (Score:3, Insightful)
Patents aren't boogeymen. Patents on things that haven't been invented (speculative patents), have already been invented (trivial patents), and thin
Yup, and I keep it... (Score:5, Funny)
And lots of other folks contribute too. Good times!
Do you keep a code library? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Do you keep a code library? (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, Why Not? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is one reason that software patents are just silly. At some point, virtually every technique will have been written, then software companies will indeed all become like SCO: A few developers and a fucking platoon of IP lawyers.
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, though, would you really trust a person who completely relied on copy/pasting legacy code into current projects? Do you know where that person got the code to begin with? Did he write it? Does he even understand the code?
While just about everyone I know keeps a personal code library containing *some* proprietary code, most don't actively use it. Those who are unscrupulous enough to copy/paste the code into current projects are not people you want around in the long term. I mean, did they even think about the best solution to the problem before doing that copy/paste?
Most people I know use their library as a reference for future development. This allows them to take the best features/ideas of their historical library and integrate those ideas in new and better ways into their current projects. And I don't see a problem with this behavior. Any person with a decent memory would remember their best ideas and features, anyway, so the illegality of this behavior is questionable.
Taft
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:2, Interesting)
I do a lot of independent work, and I make sure that my contracts spell out the fact that I will be using and maintaining my own code library. Just don't sign an "All Your Base" contract if you don't intend on keeping it.
Occassionally I get a client that doesn't like that arrangement, but then I get paid to rewrite boilerplate code, which is easy money.
(OTOH, I have worked with guys who's "code library" consists of tons of (c) shithole.com stuff from their former employers.)
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:3, Interesting)
In short, if I ever meet that overpaid consultant type, I'll punch him in the throat.
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:4, Interesting)
I looked at him kinda funny, and hesitantly said something like, "Ummm.... ok... I'll have to check with my previous employer and ask for the files and their permission."
Of course, my previous employer thought that request was odd, and didn't grant it. I emailed the interviewer my thesis and a conference publication instead (publicly available).
My question is: Has anyone else ever encountered this in a technical field?
I've heard of artists, writers, and photographers presenting their portfolio to new employers or clients, but I assume they actually own their own portfolio.
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:3, Interesting)
I told them that the code in question involved priviledged information and was not available for review. I also didn't have a copy of it, and was 100% sure my previous employer would not give it to me.
She got upset and kept pressing the issue. I tired to be reasonable and tell her I could write something tonight and send it in the next day if she needed to see my
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:3, Funny)
The point was driven into me when I was hiring several contractors for some positions. Standard company policy required developers to submit code samples. One day when I was reviewing candidates, I noticed a previous employee's name in the list. After I checked the code samples I almost fell on the floor.
First he sent code that was written while he was working for the company, in direct violation of his signed severence agreement. The comp
Why not give an examination? (Score:3, Insightful)
I know a lot of people hate job interview exams, but those are perfectly legal, ethical, reasonable assessments of fitness for a job. But asking to see already-written code is just asking for trouble -- how do you know they even wrote it?
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:3, Insightful)
As for using anything more significant than code snippets, I wouldn't do that. Standard libraries are available either freely (thanks GNU) or at a reasonable price in comparison to a project.
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is that illegal? To be legal can I never write a program with similar functionality? Or do I just have to do it in a different way? How different does it need to be to be legal?
If you can defend reimplementing something very similar, then how different is that then copying the file exactly?
I guess my point is that at some point a reimplementation by the same person for the same thing looks like you copied it exactly then changed things around.
Good memories are for wimps (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again, now that I think about it, maybe I'm just the type that's constantly surprised, period. Ha!
Re:Sure, Why Not? Coding style... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:4, Insightful)
On another slant, all the Safari sites, like this one [oreilly.com] have, right beneath the search function on the left a box you can check to "Search for code fragments only".... Of course, these are published expressly for the purpose of educating, so there's nothing illegal about using snippets of code from technical books. I wonder how much actual production code contains code from O'Reilly (or insert other publisher) books in it?
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:4, Interesting)
Why is that? I make all of my clients aware (in the contract) that I have a code library, and will use it and add to it from the current project as I see fit, with a big exception for "private" code (specific to the project, which would belong to the client and not me). My code library is part of what they pay me for - it lets me get projects done in a fraction of the time than if I had to code everything from scratch. But then again, I do NOT consider private code as part of my library, even if I have a backup copy or two sitting around on my network.
Seriously, though, would you really trust a person who completely relied on copy/pasting legacy code into current projects?
Who's copying verbatim? Granted, I have some general utility routines (forking commands, javascript mouseover stuff) but most of my code library isn't generalized enough to do this, so I copy/paste where I can, and make modifications where needed (and then I debug it).
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:4, Interesting)
OTOH, I also have a vast libary of various projects that I have worked on and use this to crib out solutions for current ones. I usually don't cut and paste from this since it is the form I am after, not the code.
As for remembering it all...fuck me...can you really remember the 100s of thousands of API calls we all deal with now. I couldn't remember them all when it was just the Win32 API, let alone all the news ones - praise be to Intellisense!
Survey is biased (Score:4, Insightful)
6. Would you re-use blocks of code written elsewhere
Only if you were confident that nobody would find out
Whether it would be found out or not
So where is the 'only if it were legal' option ?
Re:Survey is biased (Score:3, Interesting)
The crux of it is that most folks post code to a public repository because they want other people to critique and use it. If they didn't want others
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:5, Insightful)
2) In the beginning, people shared code to do common things (e.g. sorting algorithems). I wonder if they mean "Do you keep a copy of your sorting algorithems to use in other programs?" or "Do you keep a copy of your accounting software to recompile at your next job?"
3) I agree w/ the parent. It's just plain stupid to re-write some things when you have a perfectly good solution already written. Besides, if you write it over enough times, you'll remember how to write it... then you are ALWAYS carrying around code from job to job. You can't not take it.
Re:Sure, Why Not? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why re-write email or zip utilities? Also, any process flow control code is fair game.
You’d be surprised how much of a career… (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:You’d be surprised how much of a career (Score:2, Insightful)
Good reason... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but a hack != programmer. You can toss together a bunch of stuff other people have written, but when it breaks you'll need to be able to fix it. If you never learn how to do that, you'll never be more than a cut-and-paste drone.
It's great to be able to use resources like View Source to learn new stuff, see new techniques, even find quick examples of how something's done. But if you can't understand how to do it on your own (which may take much longer, granted) then you're not going to last.
Re:Good reason... (Score:3, Informative)
indeed.
i started out as a 'hack' basically finding code snippets that almost did what i wanted, but i found in every case that i had to modify these code snippets to perform the exact task i was after.
do this for a few years and pretty soon you migrate from a 'hack' into a 'programmer'.
from one employment to another, i keep all the code that i contributed. i don't do this to simply drop this code into another project, but i use it as a reference and how i did a particul
Re:Good reason... (Score:2)
For something as complex as a well-supported JS menu system, it's best to make sure you cover your ass. A couple lines here or there (or even a small function) aren't likely to be noticed, but a menu system is much more significant.
Anti-business? (Score:2, Insightful)
Not to troll, but why are so many people here opposed to business and money? The submitter probably knows (from experience) someone here will accuse him/her of greed in the first five posts if they didn't add that discaimer.
Re:Anti-business? (Score:2)
Code library. (Score:5, Interesting)
Its technically the same code, but I remove the the parts that are not used.
Besides, even if I didn't have the database. I will write a function to do something very close to the exact same way 90% of the time. Most of the developers I know have very reconizable styles. I can usually tell who on my team wrote what parts by the code alone.
Sorry for my spelling errors, I dont have time to spellcheck.
Re:Code library. (Score:2)
I don't see that as farfetched. Don't forget that most of the calendar using world formats its dates as dd/mm/yyyy, not our American system of mm/dd/yyyy.... So if you plan on writing software for use outside of the U.S., this would be a really useful piece of code to keep laying
Re:Code library. (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, most of the world [qsl.net] is following ISO 8601 standard [cam.ac.uk], which says that you should use YYYY-MM-DD instead. The ISO 8601 time format is also recommended by W3C [w3.org].
Re:Code library. (Score:2, Interesting)
story: I got called in to this web project where the 'developers' copied tons of code and in most cases didn't even bother to change the name of the variables. So you got tons of spaghetti code that looked like this:
var stolenVar1 = myVar1;
var stolenVar2 = myVar2;
var stolenVar3 = myVar3;
copied code here
*/
myVar1 = stolenVar1;
myVar2 = stolenVar3;
The same blocks of code were copied several
Code libraries aren't that helpful (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides, the parts of a code library that are most likely to be reusable are also most likely to be publically known algorithms (B-Tree, MD5 hash, etc.) and therefore published in some form already. It's probably wrong to take something that you were specifically paid to produce for one company along with you to another, so don't do it.
ack (Score:4, Interesting)
I completely agree with you that the parts of a code library that are most likely to be reusable are known and published algorithms. That and other trivial things is pretty much all I have in my code library.
Then you went and drew two conclusions that were completely different from the ones I drew out of the same facts we both agree with.
First you say "code libraries aren't that helpful" in the title. No, they won't be a significant portion of the code you right for the new company, but they're helpful enough in preventing you from reinventing the wheel every single time. Do I really want to rewrite everything I use again and again everytime I need it? Heck, I find them very helpful in preventing me from doing that.
Second, you say "it's probably wrong to take something you were specifically paid to produce for one company along with you to another, so don't do it." It's not that black and white, and it really depends on what exactly is in that code library (ethically at least. IANAL so I couldn't tell you legally). Without question, only code you wrote yourself is ethical for you to take with you. Other than that, in my opinion anything not directly related to the project you were working on is fair game. How likely is it that you're not going to be using certain primitives in your new job? How likely is it that if you write it again from scratch it will be different? You're just saving time, not giving away company secrets (which would be unethical)
Question 6 (Score:5, Insightful)
Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:5, Insightful)
3. By law, who do you think owns the rights in a piece of software that you develop or in code that you write?
Me
My employer
The client who commissioned and is paying for the development
But never asks where I developed it, nor what legal documents exist to protect various parties.
Obviously, if I'm working on code under a work for hire agreement, it belongs to the guy with the cash. If not, It's copyright me. If it's OSS code that I need to improve for a client's benefit, of course it doesn't belong to either of us - it belongs to the original author.
Did I do it at home? Did I start it before or after getting involved with the company or client? Does the client mind freeing the source? Does it contain proprietary information?
This survey is worthless so far, except to publish articles.
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:2, Interesting)
I worked for a contracting company that 1) wrote and marketed its own software, 2) developed software at the request and for other companies, and 3) developed software for its own use to accomplish work tasks for other companies. Depending on the nature of work, either the client owned it (also, we contracted with the Federal gov - which, by law, requires software developed by them to pass in the public domain) or the company re
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm pretty sure that this is what you meant, but just to clarify (under US law at least - it's the same in Canada, but I couldn't find a reference quickly) - if you're an independent contractor, the copyright only belongs to the guy with the cash if it's explicitly stated in the contract that this is a work for hire.
When freelancing, or representing my company, I never assign the copyright to the buyer, unless:
Part of what people get when they hire me or my company is a big-ass code library. It's impossible to be competitive these days without that. I'm not about to assign any part of that to someone else, and I'm not going to be giving them copyright on anything I might develop for them without appropriate compensation.
As for the survey, yeah, most of the questions were maddeningly vague. They didn't include most of the copyright situations I've been faced with, including the one where I had an employee contract stating that they could use anything I wrote for them as they saw fit, and so could I.
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:3, Informative)
Depends on the situation...I've rarely been an employee, so I'll answer for clients.
First, I don't usually bring it up. The chances of my/our code finding it's way into the wild this way aren't that great. We're not doing anything cutting edge, just your standard business logic kind of stuff. Bringing
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:4, Informative)
I generally just turn over copyright to the owner, so it does not come up, but I believe you would have to do significant, original work, in order to hold the copyright.
But in that case, it's not derivative anyway and you hold copyright alone.
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:3, Informative)
"I don't think you hold copyright on a derivative work - not even the "diff" you created."
No you don't own the collective work, that generally is held by the original author, but you most certainly DO own the code which you actually wrote if said code is copyrightable. Which is why you must explicitly contribute it and there are no shortage of projects which require you to turn copyright over to them or at least sign some sort of legal permission slip.
"I generally just turn over copyright
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:2, Insightful)
Exactly. Question #6 doesn't even have a "mu" option:
6. Would you re-use blocks of code written elsewhere
* Only if you were confident that nobody would find out
* Whether it would be found out or not
What if I already answered "I don't re-use code (that I don't own)"?
Re:Kind of a stupid survey. (Score:3, Informative)
I'm kind of spamming this thread, but this is a common misconception that I think is important for us all to be aware of. If you're coding as a contractor in North America, it is not considered a work-for-hire unless you have a contract that explicitly states that it is. That code is a big part of your value as a contractor. Don't be too quick to give it away.
(See my comment here [slashdot.org])
Choice? (Score:5, Interesting)
6. Would you re-use blocks of code written elsewhere
a) ( ) Only if you were confident that nobody would find out
b) ( ) Whether it would be found out or not
Where is 'c) I won't'?
Re:Choice? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Choice? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Choice? (Score:2)
Q) Do you enjoy killing people?
A) Yes
b) Some of the time
C) never
No matter how you answer it you can only guage that you have had some experience here (killing people) that would allow you to pick the answer.
Re:Choice? (Score:2)
10. How much code would you take from the source of a single program without permission?
Blocks of code comprising up to 5% of the program
Blocks of code comprising up to 10% of the program
Blocks of code comprising up to 25% of the program
Blocks of code comprising up to 50% of the program
Blocks of code comprising more than 50% of the program
Where is I wouldn't copy a single line without permission? (I would be nuts to, if everything you write is open sourc
Re:Choice? (Score:2)
I wrote these two complaints into their feedback box.
Re:Choice? (Score:2)
"No, Whether it would be found out or not"
Re:Choice? (Score:3, Interesting)
d) Only with permission
I've worked on Boehm's garbage collector [hp.com] at two employers, with their blessing. The changes I contributed back while at Roundpoint [roundpoint.com], are also usable in the code I'm working on at Business Web Software [businesswebsoftware.com]. A former colleague at Roundpoint also sent me some incomplete changes I made there that hadn't yet been contributed back. Since my managers had a clue about FLOSS, this reuse was all perfectly OK with them.
Underground Economy (Score:2)
Every collection of people has its underground economies. They often perform an important function so long as:
- The consumers don't abuse the system
- busybodies don't start poking around and trying to hold people accountable for what everybody is doing.
Balance the two and nobody really gets hurt.bad questions (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:bad questions (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, why not? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sure, why not? (Score:2)
Game Creation (Score:2, Insightful)
Just to be safe... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sriously though, the problem with coding, is that it is still more of an art than a science, and therefore the endproduct tends to reflect the style of the developers. It creates legal issues, but it's like asking Da Vinci to paint in a different style for a patron, "because we don't want those Sistine fellas complaining on infringement of copyright"- Ridiculous yes, but very real (IMHO).
I get paid hourly (Score:5, Funny)
In Smalltalk, you get source... (Score:2)
Re:In Smalltalk, you get source... (Score:2)
That said, you get most of the source to the class library. But then again, I get most of the source from MSFT for their class libraries runtime environments - I regularly debug in to the Microsoft Visual C runtime, MFC, ATL and WTL code.
I work for a University and... (Score:3, Interesting)
3. By law, who do you think owns the rights in a piece of software that you develop or in code that you write?
Me
My employer
The client who commissioned and is paying for the development
Is missing: Me AND My employer - as I share the ownership 50/50 due to our inhouse rules.
Re:I work for a University and... (Score:3, Interesting)
It's pretty standard for your employer to own the work they pay you to do for them... so even if there's no outright agreement, they can still make a strong case that it is implied/understood. Gotta cover your own ass these days.
Coding is like painting. (Score:4, Insightful)
Patenting or copyrighting an individual block of code is like patenting or copyrighting the color red. A painter would never be able to patent or copyright the color red and demand a royalty for all artists who use red. Painters copyright their entire image -- even a large enough sub section is copyrightable.
Coding should be the same. How many ways can somebody write a decimal to currency string formatting routine? How many ways can somebody write an RGP go greyscale conversion routine?
note: for those who say "what about Pantone?". Pantone does not copyright the color itself only the name and the Pantone color number is copyrightable. You are always free to use any RGB combination you want but Pantone will guarantee that their color system will always generate the same color on any printer that supports Pantone -- this is the value of Pantone.
Implicit assumptions (Score:3, Insightful)
The question that asks whether or not you think it is legal to re-use code for different employers needs another option: "it depends". For instance, code released under the GPL with a former employer's permission is free to be used elsewhere. However, the survey doesn't ask whether or not the code was supposed to be kept confidential.
Taught in College (Score:4, Interesting)
Give me copied code anytime (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides, what are we really talking about most of the time? Code libraries? What's the difference, really, if I copy code from my library or use routines from memory, things that I've been required to code over and over again, like validation routines, or basic algorithms?
No one is going to say that they go from client to client and write brand new code each time. Furthermore, if I were a client I would have to seriously question whether I'd even want that. If I were on a tight time constraint I wouldn't get it even if I did want it.
It would be like commissioning someone to build a bridge and then requiring that they only use brand new formulas anc techniques. Okay, but I'm not gonna be the first guy to test it
It's all the same to me (Score:4, Insightful)
So, in that key, I'm not physically keeping a code library, but I am reproducing code that may have become the property of another party.
This is not a can of worms you want to open (Score:5, Interesting)
Our intellectual property laws, when interpreted strictly, are a bit of a farce. Especially when it comes to thinks like patents, work for hire, the nebulous concept of derived works, "clean rooms..." all the way down to the embattled idea of fair use, backups, lending versus copying, onerous and unenforcable NDAs and employment contracts, and the end fact that, as a society, we have never ever, even for a day, played by the basic copyright rules "100%."
Our whole industry functions by ignoring the rules most of the time. I have never worked anyplace where all the rules (licenses, for instance) were followed. I always follow them myself to the best of my abilities - but it's impossible. I've probably unintentionally violated a license by now, and I've almost certainly infringed thousands of patents. I have never brought code from one client to another without permission or license, not even once, not even when it would have saved untold time and money and was simply the most obvious, easy thing to do... but over the years I received quite a bit of pressure under various circumstances to do it, and I'm certain that quite a few other people do.
That said, because the SCO issue (or non-issue, to be frank) is raised, let me say that it's a different thought process when you're going between the commercial and the free software world - both because the pressures to cheat don't exist (or hardly to any similar extent) in OSS, and because it is almost certain in OSS you'll be caught out. It's like parking a stolen car on the street in front of your house.
But commercial project to commercial project, yes, I bet it happens quite often. And also from OSS to commercial - I would be shocked if there were many large commercial projects that don't have stolen OSS code in them...
Dr. Lessig Would Agree (Score:3, Informative)
You've just summed up a major point that Lawrence Lessig makes in his new book, Free Culture.
For those who don't know, Dr. Lessig argued "our side" before the Supreme Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft.
In his new book Dr. Lessig discusses that case, how every new content industry (radio, film, cable,
I have a code library... (Score:2, Insightful)
BSD License (Score:2)
If you maintain a library that you take from job to job just make sure that your core code is under a BSD-style license (and that your employer is aware of this). That way, a few jobs down the line your past employers can't come screaming that you or your present employer are using "stolen" code.
code arsenal (Score:3, Insightful)
it's pretty rare that you find code that you can copy paste and compile. usually you need to read the code to understand the algorithm, then rewrite it to suite your application/variable names/coding style.
one-off hacks and throw away code probably all looks the same company to company programmer to programmer. it's the overall system design and high level architecture that I would consider the meat of the IP anyways.. and it would typically take more than a single developer to pickup and rebuild it somewhere else
I'd suggest no one take this survey. (Score:5, Interesting)
Most questions don't take into account the varying ways that code gets licensed and work gets done. They assume you're either giving the code to your employer or stealing it, when there is a whole universe of licensing paths in between those two nodes.
Larger companies (Score:3, Informative)
But this is pre-existing company code, not from a personel library. Many do keep a personel library of generic modules that can be assembled to do many things in many ways. None of this would be considered proprietery IP by anyone. Although I'm sure some companies and Universities would try. There are only x number of ways to do any function in any language. Similarities will abound between programs that do the same thing, written in the same language. You can't avoid it.
This.. was worthless. (Score:2)
Well, looks like there's no need to bother checking out the results once they're done since they're going to be seriously skewed.
I think this matters (Score:3, Insightful)
this survey smells of trolls (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a "code library" (whatever they mean by that) which I wrote in my spare time. It is released under GPL. I'm the copyright holder. I can assign any other license to that code. Therefore I can embed parts of this library in any proprietary code I write for my employer.
I also reuse other people's code released under BSD, MPL etc. This is all legal, but the survey doesn't know about this stuff.
Cookbooks (Score:2)
Survey has no provision for legal code libraries! (Score:4, Informative)
To the point - This survey did not allow me to clarify that my code library brought between jobs was legal, and it bugs me that it may be used to support the position that more people ignore the law than may actually do so.
European software patents (Score:3, Informative)
http://webshop.ffii.org/ [ffii.org]
And if you're an European citizen, please sign the petition:
http://petition.eurolinux.org/ [eurolinux.org]
MS Astroturfers! (Score:5, Informative)
The survey is full of misleading questions and will *force* you to admit you steal. Watch out.
Good coders don't copy and paste (Score:3, Informative)
I can say that as a Sun Certified Java Instructor one of the most common questions I see from entry level developers is "are there any gode sites I can copy and paste from?". I usually point these type of people to JavaAlmanac [javaalmanac.com]. In more advanced classes we end up spending more and more time talking about design patterns because there really is no point to reinventing the wheel. A this level most developers treat design patterns as more of a framework then anything else, mantaining a code library for examples but writing new code to tailor to the need at hand. After all the end job of most developers is to implement business logic and since business processes always change you're never going to be able to copy and paste for any decent sized business app.
Oh yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
The biggest tempatation in looking for new jobs is being able to forget the current code base forever, and never have to add YET ANOTHER feature onto already-baroque code that nobody wants to take the time to rewrite.
And the biggest offender is the US Government (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other hand, every US government employee is happy to announce that they share things explicitly all over to other parts, devisions, or branches. In their own mind, once it's labeled as government property, it's free to give away. Now this sounds pretty reasonable at first, until you consider the consultant who is paid to do a small project for a single branch. Once finished, they can now go and try to make some money doing the same thing for the other branches, and even reference the other branch that they did this for. At which point, the client picks up the phone, calls the reference, and has a copy of everything you've done sent to them. They see that they have everything they need, and tell you to have a nice day, since it's their property.
Before we start running around on a big witch hunt, let's have the US Government take a look at their own practices.
Re:well.. (Score:2)
Re:well.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Didn't think so.
Re:Do this survey, help SCO's lawyers (Score:2)
I am so surprised SCO lawyers didn't try to trademark "you are fired."