Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again) To : comp.programming From : Antoon Pardon Date : Mon Sep 19 2005 01:03 pm Op 2005-09-16, Joe Butler schreef : > > "David Golden" wrote in message > news:ZQFWe.15594$R5.1138@news.indigo.ie... >> Chris Sonnack wrote: >> >> > If I have created the beer and am selling it to feed my family and you >> > copy it rather than buy it, you are *stealing* from me. You are >> > actively taking food from my family. >> >> You haven't stolen from me if I make a sweater to sell to "feed my >> starving family" and you don't buy it, or even if you knit your own - >> I had no right to expect you or anyone to buy the sweater, and I'm just >> doing a crap job of feeding my family. > > You're totally missing the point of this discussion. > > If everyone knitted sweaters (or jumpers as they are known in the UK), and > other people knitted sweaters that were copies in the sense that they also > had 2 arms and a neck with a nice pattern on the front (let's assume the > pattern on the copies did not fool people into believing the jumper came > from a different source), I don't think anyone here would argue that > anything was fundamentally wrong, or was being stolen, etc. > > Now, let's assume that some enterprising jumper knitter thought that sheep > wool didn't really keep out the rain and that it stunk when it got damp etc. > and so, after working all day making jumpers to feed his/her family, > invested a lot of money and additional time and effort and developed after > many years of painstaking effort, a new fabric that could be woven like > wool, but was totally water proof and breathable, yet retained some > fashionable qualities (i.e. didn't make you look like a space man) - and > didn't make you smell like a damp donkey when it got wet. > > Do you think someone should be allowed to come along and put that new fabric > under the microscope and figure out how it worked and then make copies of > that new fabric without having to pay for the privilage to do so? What on > earth would have been the motivation to develop the fabric in the first > instance if it was known that someone else would come along and usurp it for > his own personal gain with nothing to give in return? The glory. As far as I understand human nature, very few people try to invent something to get rich. Fame and glory seem to be more involved. The problem wouldn't be motivating people to develop something new. The problem would probably be finding people to finace development, because those are motivated by the money they hope to win. -- Antoon Pardon .