Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again)
To   : comp.programming
From : gswork
Date : Tue Aug 23 2005 10:25 am


Duane Bozarth wrote:
> "Arthur J. O'Dwyer" wrote:
> ...
> >    (Tangent: Stallman uses the murder-is-wrong analogy to ridicule those
> > programmers who complain that they can't write free software because they
> > need a commercial salary. "So it's okay to kill someone and take their
> > money, because you need money?" No! A big salary doesn't excuse
> > wrongdoing! And if you really can't make an honest living in /free/
> > software design, you should go do something else for a few years. Build
> > houses, or become a policeman, or do something else that's not
> > intrinsically immoral.)
> ...
>
> Of course, there's the rub there--why is software for profit inherently
> any less a moral endeavor than any other commercial endeavor?
>
> Answer--there is no reason.

i suppose the whole argument above relies on this ethical idea and if
the idea fails then so does the argument.  In this context the GPL
would become 'just another license' with no particular ethical
position.

i would be interested in what sets programming applications apart from
such undertakings as writing books, making movies, fashion design and
so on which share with programming in that they are largely products of
thinking and knowledge and don't have particularly large material
inputs (well, not immediately and not until the product is actually
made)

The argument that the material value of an app is low (because it can
be sent around the net, burned onto CD's etc) is also applicable to
others areas - we could argue that writers should simply release the
text or that designers simply release the designs and that only cost is
borne out in printing or textile factories.

At it's ultimate it would state that any creative process should be
GPL'd and all costs be simply a matter of adding up the costs of
production and distribution nothing more.  Perhaps that is the
position, and for now it resides in programming as a launchpad.

otherwise programming apps would have to be so distinct that the ideas
do not look inconsistent when tested under comparable situations

.