Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again)
To   : comp.programming
From : Serge Skorokhodov (216716244)
Date : Wed Aug 31 2005 03:07 am

Randy Howard wrote:
> It would however, be totally unfair to the original author, 
> unless that person /wanted/ to give it up for such acts.  You
> might as well demand that chemists give up their formulas for
> snake oil, so that other snake oil companies won't have to
> start from scratch.  What rational basis is there for this
> need to make others have it easier off the fruit of others'
> labor?

The problem of patents is exactly that they prevent others from
starting from scratch for unreasonable period of time. Otherwise
it was just trade secrets.

>>> They don't have to buy his software.  The fundamental
>>> problem is the consumer herd mentality, not the law.  If
>>> consumers only were willing to pay for quality, and
>>> actively boycotted bad software, bill gates would not be a
>>> billionaire today.  He'd probably be selling used cars.
>> 
>> Probably not.  Software is dominated by issues of
>> compatability.  So long as companies can hide behind
>> copyright law the important interchange formats will remain
>> proprietry.
> 
> Strange, Office is going XML reportedly, despite still
> retaining copyright protection on their software.  How can
> that be?

I may be wrong, but you cannot use XML MS Office format without
permission.
> 
>> Whoever controls those formats will control a large amount
>> of the software landscape, once it was IBM, now it's
>> Microsoft, it may be someone else in ten years time.
> 
> 
> It is anyone's right to sell a product, without giving away
> all the implementation details.  It is your right as a
> consumer to refuse to buy it if you don't like it.  If you
> choose to buy it though, then you have no complaint.

Do you remember the MDI in MS Exel but not in Windows SDK story?
Don't you think that companies must take some responsibility and
obligations if their product is of infrastructural importance?
Farmacutical companies have to after talidomid. Just imagine a
car manufacturer that doesn't provide technical details on breaks
or patent ABS.

-- 
Serge

.