Re: Stallman and theft

["Jeff Knope" <jknope@xxxxxxxx>]

I understand there is a lively sub-culture of freeware and shareware, and a 
genuine open-source movement.  I think it is great.  I often participate in 
it, and enthusiastically support it.

My objection to Stallman's arguments is he flatly denies the existence of 
intellectual property, and actively advocates the blithe theft of it.  Or, 
at the very least, attitudes that strongly encourage such theft.

Listen to this:

If
> > programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative
> > programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if
> > they restrict the use of these programs.

What do you think?  Should we use the thumb-screws again, or just steal his 
program?

I'd like to say something soothing, like "this may be a thing about which 
reasonable people may disagree."  But I can't.  It's not.  At best, I could 
go along with, "we may agree to disagree."  :)

In case anyone is confused, my "Just Do It" advice was with reference to 
trivial content to be used in an educational setting.  That, it turns out, 
is perfectly legal.

What we are talking about here is the theft of tens-of-thousands of hours of 
effort.  These ongoing efforts are made possible only by the revenue 
generated by sales.  Halt the revenue, and you will halt the effort.  And we 
will all be much the poorer for it.

--Jeff


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Daniel Ajoy" <dajoy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mwforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 7:26 AM
Subject: Re: turtle image


> On 4 Jun 2005 at 23:55, Jeff Knope wrote:
>
> > I find Stallman's arguments spurious and bizarre.  As a practical matter,
> > wide adoption of these notions would bring virtually all software
> > development to a screeching halt.  Exactly the opposite effect of what
> > Stallman thinks he's promoting.
>
> Would it? Why were MSWLogo, UCBLogo and LogoFE developed?
> All of them adhere to the GPL license:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License
>
> The MWForum uses: majordomo, mhonarc, gawk, all free
> software (in the same sense of freedom)
>
> Daniel
>
>
>
>
>
> *****************************
> OpenWorld Learning
> http://www.openworldlearning.org