[antlr-interest] Philosophy of open source

David Piepgrass qwertie256 at gmail.com
Mon Jul 2 15:07:17 PDT 2007


> What society are you referring to?  Or perhaps the question should be, what
> society in which country allows people to give away their work and still
> eat?  Even in communist societies, people work and receive compensation.

I'm certainly not referring to communism (I don't like communism as
seen in the USSR, China, etc.) Indeed, there is no country I know of
where people can make intellectual works for a living without charging
for copies (or at least giving up their rights to a corporation that
sells/uses their work). And I would point out that treaties like the
Berne convention and TRIPS tend to prevent countries--even communist
countries--from differentiating their intellectual property laws from
those of the U.S.

It's not a state of affairs I'm happy with. Many people demonize file
sharing and freedom to copy, whereas I think freedom of information is
wonderful and I would prefer to find a way for society to pay those
whose works are copied.

> There's nothing wrong with our society here in the U.S., if that's what
> you're referring to.  Quite the opposite.  Our society allows people like
> Ter the freedom to pursue their dreams and goals, and the freedom to decide
> what to do with their time.  If someone chooses to write free software,
> that's great, but there is nothing wrong with being compensated for one's
> work.  There is nothing shameful or selfish in that whatsoever.  What's
> shameful is making demands on someone who has already given generously to
> the community, as if he hasn't done enough already.

I agree completely, except the first sentence. Do you really think
nothing whatsoever is wrong with society?

> This implies that some sort of blame exists.

No, it doesn't. If I were to say you are "not a crook", does that
"imply" that you are "some sort of crook"?


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