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The IP wars
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July 18, 2003 (8:00:00 AM)
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- by John O'Sullivan -
The first shot in the intellectual property wars was fired by no less than William H. Gates III on February 3, 1976. In <SLASH HREF="//linux.com/relocate.pl?id=da24267e4e006fdab9e72da79f11e21e" ID="10fb60db68b0891fcbcb22c89f4b0a19" TITLE="http://www.crossprings.com/node.php?id=60" TYPE="LINK">a famous letter</SLASH> decrying the theft of his programs, Mr. Gates set out the philosophy that IP was essentially the same as traditional property, and that the same rights and laws should apply.
The first shot in the intellectual property wars was fired by no less than William H. Gates III on February 3, 1976. In <SLASH HREF="//linux.com/relocate.pl?id=da24267e4e006fdab9e72da79f11e21e" ID="10fb60db68b0891fcbcb22c89f4b0a19" TITLE="http://www.crossprings.com/node.php?id=60" TYPE="LINK">a famous letter</SLASH> decrying the theft of his programs, Mr. Gates set out the philosophy that IP was essentially the same as traditional property, and that the same rights and laws should apply.
If the traditionalist camp was epitomized by Mr. Gates, the community camp for a long time had no leader as such. Rather, the community philosophy evolved from 1960s Bay Area values, sometimes misleadingly labeled hippie culture.
The war smoldered for 25 years within the computer industry. A technological arms race progressed as companies tried to protect their software from copying while users tried to find ways around the protection. It was not a noble struggle.
As the 1990s progressed, the IP wars became more pronounced and important. The ease of large-scale data copying via the now ubiquitous Internet and the rising value of intangible assets combined fatefully with the debut of Napster in 1999 to bring about a full-scale revolution. Millions of people started trading music files with impunity and record companies could but look on in horror.
When my mother, a retired kindergarten teacher, got broadband in 2001, the first thing she did was call me for help with installing Napster. When we downloaded her first song, Louis Armstrong’s "What a Wonderful World," I informed her she had just broken the law by stealing the song.
“How can I be stealing from Louis Armstrong?� she asked. “Louis Armstrong is dead.�
“But a record company owns that song,� I replied.
She dismissed this with a wave of her hand. She, and millions of others, felt they were doing nothing wrong. They might be stealing, but they were stealing from thieves.
This is what the RIAA has never understood. While it is 100% correct in its assertion of legal property rights, it has no moral authority. As a result, its increasingly shrill self-righteousness instills not fear, but contempt, in the minds of most music traders.
Meanwhile, the IP counter-revolution was already underway. With trademarks, patents, and copyrights, corporations attempted to assert rights over IP that far exceeded those in effect before the revolution started. For example, Mattel attempted to shut down Barbie fan sites for trademark violation. On the patent front, Amazon’s one-click patent and Rambus’ subversion of the DDR standard signaled a new front in the war. One could apparently patent anything and make millions before the issue could be resolved in court. More than one company used the DMCA to silence critics or cover up shoddy security. Where civil courts had been the only legal recourse, companies could now call on the DMCA to mobilize criminal courts to do their bidding.
Intellectual property rights ceased to be defensive. They ceased to be tools protecting creators and nurturing innovation. Rather, they had become offensive business tools and profit centers. Where technology had been the enemy of IP traditionalists, it now became their friend. Digital rights management (DRM) could represent the Holy Grail of continuing and complete control over content for studios and music companies. Each instance of content could become a recurring revenue stream rather than a one-time sale. DRM enforces payment every time the content is used; the DMCA keeps DRM secure.
Meanwhile, though Napster is long gone, file trading has become more and more mainstream. Some estimate file trading at 60% of the Internet’s total bandwidth. Where Napster allowed one to get many different kinds of songs, one can now get almost any song, many movies and TV shows, and just about all computer programs. Popular songs can be had in minutes. This is the ultimate nightmare for the RIAA. It is now more convenient to steal music than it is to buy it.
And so the war continues with no resolution in sight. Control of information and content is central to corporations, so the IP wars will continue until the corporations either prevail in their control or are subjugated to the will of larger institutions. The future is unclear, partly because control of IP is so dependent on technology, whose evolution is unpredictable, but mostly because the IP wars have become part of a larger struggle.
What is to replace the nation state? The nation state has outlived its usefulness, and its replacement will take the rest of the Twenty-first Century to evolve. Right now, there are two contenders: the corporate state, epitomized by the USA, and the regional state, epitomized by the European Union.
To paraphrase Marx, the struggle for control of information has become a political struggle. We must face this fact before we citizens can reshape the IP agenda to include our rights and our values.
John O'Sullivan takes care of sales, marketing and product management at Hotsprings Inc., a Toronto company creating open source applications and development tools. Hotsprings technology was acquired from Hotline Communications, developer of Hotline Connect and a pioneer of P2P applications.
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Let me ask the question again. Name one piece of technology bill gates(pirate) and his crew of scurvy dawgs ever created ?
AmigaBasic, which can be considered a predecessor to Visual Basic, sort of…
…much as I hate to admit it, it was a good piece of work, too.
I used to teach PC support and networking classes at an accredited career school and as an extra-curricular activity, I used to ask my students this very question. I taught that class for three years, and never did come up with a viable answer. Everything Microsoft ever "invented" was merely nothing more than taking someone else's proven technology, sugar-coating it with as much eye-candy as possible, and labeling it as "innovation".
Bob
LMAO
And Clippy makes three. Bob, LMAO, Clippy
DOS. inspired by CP/M of course but written from scratch none the less.Piece of crap of course.
No, MS bought DOS from some guy for $15,000. Google it and see.
No.. He bilked the original developer with 25-50K dollars and assumed all rights to it.
stood for Quick and Dirty Operating System. Didn't you see the TV show...?
DOS. inspired by CP/M of course but written from scratch none the less.Piece of crap of course.>
correct, except that he didn't write it. it was written by some other guy in seattle (Seattle Computers?). Gates knew about it, made the contract with IBM, and the bought it from them
As to Microsoft building DOS from scratch, they didn't. I don't know the full story, hoever Microsoft apparently bought at least part of the code from Seattle Computers - or at least it has been publically claimed that they did.
However they were also sued by Digital Research for stealing the CP/M source code and basing DOS on this. Microsoft lost the case when the head of DR managed to get a fresh install of DOS to show a DR trademark - the judge regards this as proof that MS had stole the code.
So DR won the lawsuit, and that's why they were allowed to publish their own version od DOS. There was a gag order put on the case, which is why it is not widely documented.
I strongly suggest you read this page:
http://www.aaxnet.com/editor/edit029.html
I believe that their version of BASIC (for the Altair?) was coded from scratch and wasn't too bad, having to fit into something like 4k of code.
Of course, it has little to do with VB except for some very (pardon the pun) basic syntax.
Of course, it has little to do with VB except for some very (pardon the pun) basic syntax.
Yes.
Since BASIC already existed, and they were working on an implementation of it for the Altair, you can probably ignore this one as well. Not because they didn't work on the project, but because what they did was not original work.
I am pretty sure you can find the original sourcecode for Basic as it appeared on a mainframe of the era, and compare it to the work that BG and co. did, and you will find quite a few similarities.
I am pretty sure you can find the original sourcecode for Basic as it appeared on a mainframe of the era, and compare it to the work that BG and co. did, and you will find quite a few similarities.
Wasn't the whole Windows NT branch written from scratch by MS engineers? (all hired from Digital, with VMS experience, but still)?
NT was based off of MS OS/2 which was a cooperative between M$ and IBM. Then M$ got an idea and IBM and M$ no longer got along. M$ took their idea and made NT and IBM continued with OS/2. The VMS guys were involved from the get go with NT mainly with the whole HAL idea and it spread from there.
Yes, the code was new. But there was not a single new idea in the whole thing. Written in the 1990s, it was just another multitasking OS like the ones that had been written in the 1960s and 1970s. It may have been new code, but it was 20-year-old technology. Worse, its security was a big step backwards from the OSs that its ideas were copied from. The Windows message queue had no mechanism for authenticating the source of a message, a mistake that is the basis of a privilege-escalation exploit that still works on NT.
Yep, thats the irony. He stole everything, and tried to moralize others. What a joke?
Actually, Microsoft has created every piece of software ever known to man. It is those mean Linux people who are spreading lies about the creation of DOS and Windows and stuff. In fact, Linux was stolen from Microsoft, because of course every good piece of software was produced by the MS team years before anybody came along and stole their ideas.
Microsoft came up with the original 8088 and 8086 assembly languages, way before Intel invented the processor. COBOL, ENIAC punch code, the Internet, and the idea of the operating system inside a machine were all inventions by the Gates crew.
Back in the days when Microsoft was called Abacusoft, Bill's great-great-great grandfather was the original drafter of the Declaration of Independence. However, those mean guys got their stolen version to the King first. Another ancient relative of Gates invented sex. It took a little for him to get it right, but now Bill rightfully inherited the patent to sex. But, being the nice guys he is, he'll let people have sex for another few years before charging royalties.
Come on guys, Bill should be praised for all his hard work! He is the true hero of the world, and possibly the entire universe.
Microsoft came up with the original 8088 and 8086 assembly languages, way before Intel invented the processor. COBOL, ENIAC punch code, the Internet, and the idea of the operating system inside a machine were all inventions by the Gates crew.
Back in the days when Microsoft was called Abacusoft, Bill's great-great-great grandfather was the original drafter of the Declaration of Independence. However, those mean guys got their stolen version to the King first. Another ancient relative of Gates invented sex. It took a little for him to get it right, but now Bill rightfully inherited the patent to sex. But, being the nice guys he is, he'll let people have sex for another few years before charging royalties.
Come on guys, Bill should be praised for all his hard work! He is the true hero of the world, and possibly the entire universe.
That just gets rediculous when you are talking about his ancestors drafing the Declaration of Independence, etc. Bill Gates isn't the center of the universe! Even if you are Bill's #1 fan and you would like to think of him as the center of the universe, please don't just tell everyone that! If you had been a little more rational in your respone, I think that more people would consider it a viable response that says your opinion, and think about their opinions on the matter.
Re:How many cups of coffee have you drank today?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 19, 2003 05:37 AM
That was a joke, dude... chill! Well, maybe Billy himself thinks it's true...
Re:How many cups of coffee have you drank today?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 19, 2003 09:07 AM
Judas Priest.
Get yourself a sense of humour! Man, I knew this community was going to Hell, but this is just fucking insane.
Get yourself a sense of humour! Man, I knew this community was going to Hell, but this is just fucking insane.
Re:How many cups of coffee have you drank today?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 20, 2003 06:17 AM
errrr......... I believe the term may be HUMOUR , I understand that zealots occasionally forget to load the driver for this device<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
But, being the nice guys he is, he'll let people have sex for another few years before charging royalties.
So, how much of the $350/h I paid to the chick I met last night will go to Bill G as sex royality in theory?
So, how much of the $350/h I paid to the chick I met last night will go to Bill G as sex royality in theory?
Well, none right now... it will be increased to approximately $526.38/h under the Gates rate. However, if you are in a third-world country that does not yet have dealings with Microsoft, you may actually only see the rate increase to $375/h.
This is the reason why I recommend Open Source even when it comes to sex.
Micro Soft + Sex! If I was a girl, I'd be demanding a refund!
Microsoft Sex
def: very very small pictures depicting nudity but with no explicitly sexual activities shown.
def: very very small pictures depicting nudity but with no explicitly sexual activities shown.
Well, I hear he actually programmed the BASIC interpreter on the Altaire (IIRC, I could be wrong here), and once that had made him some money, he basically just bought/stole everything else.
Bill Gates... hmm nothing...
But his 'gang' is a diffrent story.
Of the businesses he aquired they mostly develuped from scratch before being bought out.
Some were driven down by durty tricks.
Some were driven down by software theft.
I don't totally agree with his addatude but S-100 manufacteres who didn't pay for Microsoft Basic should not have included it.
Then someone would set down a free basic years earlier. We'd have the source today and Bill Gates wouldn't have this idea in his head that his work is valuable.
But his 'gang' is a diffrent story.
Of the businesses he aquired they mostly develuped from scratch before being bought out.
Some were driven down by durty tricks.
Some were driven down by software theft.
I don't totally agree with his addatude but S-100 manufacteres who didn't pay for Microsoft Basic should not have included it.
Then someone would set down a free basic years earlier. We'd have the source today and Bill Gates wouldn't have this idea in his head that his work is valuable.
notepad from scratch.
notepad is an example of thier level of sofistication!
From scratch, they know that they can not get better than notepad!
notepad is an example of thier level of sofistication!
From scratch, they know that they can not get better than notepad!
But they did... WordPad.
Yes, but they made it too powerful at first. In later versions, Microsoft removed Wordpad's ability to insert a page break. I wonder why?<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;-)
How about MS Bob?
I was totally with you until you mentioned Marx.
First you apparently think everything Marx said was bad.
Marx was a great thinker. Marx would have not liked the Soviets because they stiffled freedom
Marx point about control of information is a keen observation.
Marx was a great thinker. Marx would have not liked the Soviets because they stiffled freedom
Marx point about control of information is a keen observation.
Marx wrote a book called "A World Without Jews." Now, if you're a Nazi, then indeed he was a great thinker.
I would agree, he wasn't a great thinker, but he was a great economist. (remember this is actually what he was educated in)
Economists today still refer to Marx works.
Lots of great scientists and economists and the sort have had dubious social views. Their actual work, however, has usually been good.
Economists today still refer to Marx works.
Lots of great scientists and economists and the sort have had dubious social views. Their actual work, however, has usually been good.
The only ones who still believe in Marxism are some American university professors, who have never lived in the real world, and their recent students, who haven't lived in the real world long enough to overcome their mis-education.
One could then say this too : "the only ones who still believe in liberalism will be so deeply disappointed in about 50 years about what it led to".
Wasn't Marx Jew himself? Three Great Jews we will always remember:
Jesus, Marx, and Einstein...
Jesus, Marx, and Einstein...
Indeed he has. Interestingly, the world he calls for in that book is also a world without Christians, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhists, Wiccans, Discordians, Moonies or any other religion. The book didn't call for extermination of Jews, but was an encouragement for Jews to identify with their class first and foremost, and their religion and "race" as a lesser concern, or better yet, forget all about race and religion. This is pretty much in line with both Marx' earlier and later thinking; both his universal contempt for religion and his call for class unity are well known. Marx considered religion and race to be constructions meant to disrupt working class unity by drawing false lines within the class. The title of the work, while pretty stupid (especially seen in the light of antisemitic atrocities some 100 years after Marx' death), implied a world in which Jews (and indeed people in general) had abandoned religion; thus Jews had ceased to be Jews. He wrote specifically about Jews primarily because he happened to be one by birth and had had much more personal exposure to Judaism than to other religions, but also because he was revolted with the ways Jews socialized each other to primarily identify as Jews. The work was translated to English by members of a group named "Jews Against Communism"; apparently some blatantly antisemitic passages has crept in during translation; passages that were absent in the original German version. Marx had remarked that "anti-semitism is the socialism of fools". In an earlier writing, "On the Jewsish Question" (part of a debate with Bruno Bauer), Marx calls for first the emancipation and granting of equal rights for German Jews ("political emancipation"), and believed that this could eventually lead to both Jews and non-Jews leaving religion behind and achieving "human emancipation". This writing was before Marx became a communist, at this time he was first and foremost anti-religious. In both his works about Jews, he writes with an excessively inflammatory language, but this needs to be seen in the contexts that A) he also did this with any other religious groups in his polemic against them, B) his language is not out of the ordinary for the middle 1800's and C) both works were mostly meant as provocations. Amusingly, in "On the Jewish Question", he turns the anti-semitic prejudices often held by non-Jews against the non-Jews themselves.
He wasn't really terribly popular with the Nazis, either. His writings were burned in public book-burning ceremonies, people who identified with his political theories were killed in concentration camps (side by side with Jews), and indeed Hitler identified Communism as one of the main threats to the Nazi state.
Marx' theory of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" was pretty ugly, though.
References:
http://www.marxmail.org/faq/antisemitism.htm
He wasn't really terribly popular with the Nazis, either. His writings were burned in public book-burning ceremonies, people who identified with his political theories were killed in concentration camps (side by side with Jews), and indeed Hitler identified Communism as one of the main threats to the Nazi state.
Marx' theory of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" was pretty ugly, though.
References:
http://www.marxmail.org/faq/antisemitism.htm
and an interesting historical footnote is, that the west completley supported the Nazis in the beggining because of their anti-communist agenda.
Get your act toghether: Marx was a Jew himself.
The book speaks about a world without jews, of course (that's the title), but actually it means "a world without religion", of any kind. It is not anti-semitic at all.
Marx was a great thinker. Don't forget the times he lived in... the moment when capitalism was at its worst. Workers were paid miserably and forced to work for 14-16 hours a day. So, Marx felt he had to do something about it, and who can blame him for that.
The "comunism" you talk about, as in Russia, is not exactly comunism, as comunism requires a lot of things (such as the abolition of money). That's why these countries called themselves "socialist states", as socialism, as Marx wrote, was a middle-step between capitalism and comunism (which has not been achieved by any nation so far).
Actually, comunism is nothing like russian socialism. Probably, it is more similar to the form of society that is depicted in Star Trek, for example... no money, no real social problems, and the such.
However, IMHO, Marx failed to understand the basic nature of man, and therefore this comunism remains an Utopia, a "perfect" way of life that is unachievable, because it simply requires a kind of man that does not exist (a new kind of man for a new kind of world). However, utopics were not scarse at Marx's time, specially in Germany.
Political issues aside, Marx was one of the great, if not the greatest, philosophers and economists of modern times. His economical insights of the world we live in are still unsurpassed. You cannot just dump all of Marx's work just because of his "bad" name.
And, in a way, you ought to be grateful to Marx and his theory of comunism. Thanks to it, and the menace of the "dictatorship of the proletariat", capitalists had to change their ways, and start giving more humane working conditions and salaries. Otherwise, now you would not have spare time to sit and talk in this forum, or money to buy a computer to start with. You would work for a mere 10 bucks a month, 14 hours a day.
Marx is just part of our history. His times demanded that the working class united against the opression of the brutal capitalism of the times, and achieved something. Times changed, and his view of the world grew outdated. That's all. Now let the folk rest in peace, and do not despise his great works in philosophy and economics, which are enough to make the man an important figure in science's history. Oh, and yes, he was jewish, although he despised every type of religion (quote: "religion is the opium of the masses"). But no sane nazi would ever resort to Marx's work to justify anti-semitism. Nazis were as anti-comunists as americans, or even more (although, interestingly enough, their party name was "National Socialism", and that's where the word "Nazi" comes from, the first sillables of the party name, in german).
The book speaks about a world without jews, of course (that's the title), but actually it means "a world without religion", of any kind. It is not anti-semitic at all.
Marx was a great thinker. Don't forget the times he lived in... the moment when capitalism was at its worst. Workers were paid miserably and forced to work for 14-16 hours a day. So, Marx felt he had to do something about it, and who can blame him for that.
The "comunism" you talk about, as in Russia, is not exactly comunism, as comunism requires a lot of things (such as the abolition of money). That's why these countries called themselves "socialist states", as socialism, as Marx wrote, was a middle-step between capitalism and comunism (which has not been achieved by any nation so far).
Actually, comunism is nothing like russian socialism. Probably, it is more similar to the form of society that is depicted in Star Trek, for example... no money, no real social problems, and the such.
However, IMHO, Marx failed to understand the basic nature of man, and therefore this comunism remains an Utopia, a "perfect" way of life that is unachievable, because it simply requires a kind of man that does not exist (a new kind of man for a new kind of world). However, utopics were not scarse at Marx's time, specially in Germany.
Political issues aside, Marx was one of the great, if not the greatest, philosophers and economists of modern times. His economical insights of the world we live in are still unsurpassed. You cannot just dump all of Marx's work just because of his "bad" name.
And, in a way, you ought to be grateful to Marx and his theory of comunism. Thanks to it, and the menace of the "dictatorship of the proletariat", capitalists had to change their ways, and start giving more humane working conditions and salaries. Otherwise, now you would not have spare time to sit and talk in this forum, or money to buy a computer to start with. You would work for a mere 10 bucks a month, 14 hours a day.
Marx is just part of our history. His times demanded that the working class united against the opression of the brutal capitalism of the times, and achieved something. Times changed, and his view of the world grew outdated. That's all. Now let the folk rest in peace, and do not despise his great works in philosophy and economics, which are enough to make the man an important figure in science's history. Oh, and yes, he was jewish, although he despised every type of religion (quote: "religion is the opium of the masses"). But no sane nazi would ever resort to Marx's work to justify anti-semitism. Nazis were as anti-comunists as americans, or even more (although, interestingly enough, their party name was "National Socialism", and that's where the word "Nazi" comes from, the first sillables of the party name, in german).
the link to the Bill Gates letter was interesting
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 18, 2003 10:53 PM
Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? asked W. Gates in 1976, deploring the fact that very few people paid for the BASIC that Microsoft developed.
The question implies that the answer is "nobody", but of course this wasn't true. Bill Gates was already a multi-millionaire, having inherited a lot of money from his grandfather.
He started deceptive advertising really early<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...
The question implies that the answer is "nobody", but of course this wasn't true. Bill Gates was already a multi-millionaire, having inherited a lot of money from his grandfather.
He started deceptive advertising really early<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...
This guy is a commie
The problem with communism is not the underlying philosiphy, but with the implimentation. All of them sucked. I would say the same about copyrights (read article I and compare to implimentation today), and many other things associated with capitalism and corporations as well.
The other problem with Marx (to my understanding)is that he refused to recognize that within a society, some people do have more value to the overall society, thus giving others a reason to improve their own self-worth.
As an example: I am a programmer; Linus Torvalds is a programmer. Under Marx, we would both be equals - receiving the same remuneration for our efforts. This is complete horse-manure. Despite whatever fantasies may be running around in my head at the moment, Torvalds is way more valuable to society and to the industry than I will ever be. That's not to say that I cannot improve, but such improvement is a Herculean undertaking.
What Marx wanted sure sounds nice, but it negates those things that differentiate us from machines, spitting out the things that society needs to survive.
As an example: I am a programmer; Linus Torvalds is a programmer. Under Marx, we would both be equals - receiving the same remuneration for our efforts. This is complete horse-manure. Despite whatever fantasies may be running around in my head at the moment, Torvalds is way more valuable to society and to the industry than I will ever be. That's not to say that I cannot improve, but such improvement is a Herculean undertaking.
What Marx wanted sure sounds nice, but it negates those things that differentiate us from machines, spitting out the things that society needs to survive.
"What Marx wanted sure sounds nice, but it negates those things that differentiate us from machines, spitting out the things that society needs to survive."
Well, that depends on if you want to freely seduce your neighbor's wife. After all, the manifesto states:
"Bourgeois marriage is, in reality, a system of wives in common and thus, at the most, what the Communists might possibly be reproached with is that they desire to introduce, in substitution for a hypocritically concealed, an openly legalized system of free love. For the rest, it is self-evident that the abolition of the present system of production must bring with it the abolition of free love springing from that system, i.e., of prostitution both public and private."
Ahh, the days of Marxist glory. It was only after reading the Communist Manifesto that I realized that the hippie anti-Vietnam war protesters weren't protesting because they desired something magnanimous for our troops, but because they wanted the communists to win. Hippies are commies. Only they're out of the ordinary commies, in that they don't bathe regularly, and refuse to get haircuts (are you reading this, RMS?).
Well, that depends on if you want to freely seduce your neighbor's wife. After all, the manifesto states:
"Bourgeois marriage is, in reality, a system of wives in common and thus, at the most, what the Communists might possibly be reproached with is that they desire to introduce, in substitution for a hypocritically concealed, an openly legalized system of free love. For the rest, it is self-evident that the abolition of the present system of production must bring with it the abolition of free love springing from that system, i.e., of prostitution both public and private."
Ahh, the days of Marxist glory. It was only after reading the Communist Manifesto that I realized that the hippie anti-Vietnam war protesters weren't protesting because they desired something magnanimous for our troops, but because they wanted the communists to win. Hippies are commies. Only they're out of the ordinary commies, in that they don't bathe regularly, and refuse to get haircuts (are you reading this, RMS?).
You tell 'm
LOL. What a twit. You've not got clue 1 about the 60's anti-war protestors. The "hippies are commies" was the most popular means of dismissing the war opposition amongst the righty wingnuts back then. Not surprising to see some of you are still around today. but that's a distorted view of the protestors. The oft-cited parable of the hippie spitting on the soldier is a media fabrication. See www.vaiw.org's articles for a nice bit of research by a vet, who could find only one veteran spat on during the vietnam war: a WWII vet, spat on for protesting the war. Some buddy of yours must've decided the old guy was a dirty commie.
Most of those protestors had friends and relatives killed in the meatgrinder of Vietnam, and you think they really wanted it stopped because they were all friggin' marxists?
LOL. All this begs the question: How many more names do *YOU* think should be on that damn wall?
Most of those protestors had friends and relatives killed in the meatgrinder of Vietnam, and you think they really wanted it stopped because they were all friggin' marxists?
LOL. All this begs the question: How many more names do *YOU* think should be on that damn wall?
This guy has another point of view. I don't see what communism has to do here. Oh well, I guess it's easier to write 'commie' and 'un-american' than thinking, isn't it?
No, Bill Gates is the epitome of an American capitalist; just about the furthest thing from being a communist possible.
What we have called communism (ie: the Soviet Union) was actually a socialist state, which is not really the same thing at all. "Communism" has been repeatedly, and incorrectly, used to describe anything that is "un-American".
> Bill Gates is the epitome of an American capitalist
Oh, please. Bill Gates is no more a Capitalist than Al Capone was.
People complain about how the word Communism gets twisted from its actual intended meaning, but what about Capitalism?
Our current system, where governments work in partnership with corporations, is not Capitalism. If anything, it is Feudalism.
Under Capitalism, you offer your product or service, and I offer mine, and we compete for customers. Everyone follows the law, and there is no force involved.
Bill Gates, on the other hand, sabotages other companies' products (such as "polluting" Java), uses fraud against his own customers (such as the policy to "quietly grow j++ share and assume that people will take advantage of our classes without ever realizing they are building win32-only java apps"), and relies heavily on extortion (such as tying up people's data in secret file formats).
The only reason that Gates gets away with it is because the law hasn't yet figured out that sabotaging your competitor's software is no different than firebombing his store front, and tying up your customer's data and charging to give it back is no different than a bank making you pay to get your money back.
So please don't use Gates as an example of Capitalism, because he is nothing of the sort. There are lots of examples of much more honest businessmen (Jobs, Hewlett & Packard, Kroc, Sloan, Watson, Coleman, and so on) who come much closer to the Capitalist ideal.
Unfortunately, even in those examples, Corporatism has ensured that the company outlives its founder, and continues as a nameless, faceless entity, with no moral center. But Corporatism, so called "public ownership", is also a non-Capitalist concept.
I guess I'm also saying that, to a large extent, America is no longer a Capitalist country.
Oh, please. Bill Gates is no more a Capitalist than Al Capone was.
People complain about how the word Communism gets twisted from its actual intended meaning, but what about Capitalism?
Our current system, where governments work in partnership with corporations, is not Capitalism. If anything, it is Feudalism.
Under Capitalism, you offer your product or service, and I offer mine, and we compete for customers. Everyone follows the law, and there is no force involved.
Bill Gates, on the other hand, sabotages other companies' products (such as "polluting" Java), uses fraud against his own customers (such as the policy to "quietly grow j++ share and assume that people will take advantage of our classes without ever realizing they are building win32-only java apps"), and relies heavily on extortion (such as tying up people's data in secret file formats).
The only reason that Gates gets away with it is because the law hasn't yet figured out that sabotaging your competitor's software is no different than firebombing his store front, and tying up your customer's data and charging to give it back is no different than a bank making you pay to get your money back.
So please don't use Gates as an example of Capitalism, because he is nothing of the sort. There are lots of examples of much more honest businessmen (Jobs, Hewlett & Packard, Kroc, Sloan, Watson, Coleman, and so on) who come much closer to the Capitalist ideal.
Unfortunately, even in those examples, Corporatism has ensured that the company outlives its founder, and continues as a nameless, faceless entity, with no moral center. But Corporatism, so called "public ownership", is also a non-Capitalist concept.
I guess I'm also saying that, to a large extent, America is no longer a Capitalist country.
>Our current system, where governments work in
>partnership with corporations, is not Capitalism.
>If anything, it is Feudalism.
Not really, feudal lords were sworn in service to their lords, not the other way around. The word you're looking for is an ugly one: Fascism.
As Mussolini put it, 'fascism should really be called corporatism as it consists of the merging of corporate and governmental interests.' Basically, the robber barons of Italy got tired of breaking up unions by hiring goons to bust heads, only to have the government listen to people and tell them to knock it off. Their answer was to have their goons run the government.
There's a list of the fourteen characteristics of fascist states floating around, culled from a paper by one Dr. Lawrence Britt, based on a study of several historical fascist states. A google turns up a copy of the list at http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm
See how many you can spot here in the US today.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:) Admittedly, it's a different, home-grown brand of fascism that the far right is pushing, but it still smells the same.
*insert flag waving, military parade, and exhortation to never question our glorious leader here* Brought to you by Fox!
>partnership with corporations, is not Capitalism.
>If anything, it is Feudalism.
Not really, feudal lords were sworn in service to their lords, not the other way around. The word you're looking for is an ugly one: Fascism.
As Mussolini put it, 'fascism should really be called corporatism as it consists of the merging of corporate and governmental interests.' Basically, the robber barons of Italy got tired of breaking up unions by hiring goons to bust heads, only to have the government listen to people and tell them to knock it off. Their answer was to have their goons run the government.
There's a list of the fourteen characteristics of fascist states floating around, culled from a paper by one Dr. Lawrence Britt, based on a study of several historical fascist states. A google turns up a copy of the list at http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm
See how many you can spot here in the US today.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:) Admittedly, it's a different, home-grown brand of fascism that the far right is pushing, but it still smells the same.
*insert flag waving, military parade, and exhortation to never question our glorious leader here* Brought to you by Fox!
I thought they were called terrorists now?
If you mean Un-American as in not supporting some agenda of the United States, you may be right. Did you bother to read his bio? He's from Canada.
So, on one hand, yes, he "Un-American" but on the other he's as American as anybody else born in the Western Hemisphere.
So, on one hand, yes, he "Un-American" but on the other he's as American as anybody else born in the Western Hemisphere.
It's not 1950 anymore. Get over it.
That may just be better than being a capitalist sometimes...
Capitalism seems to be doing at least as much wrong as it does good.
Leninism is a bad form of communism but marxism is quite social and as a concept not to bad. The problem with implementing it is human nature.
Why do Americans despise the concept of communism so much? And furthermore why do Americans evangelize capitalism and Free market economy... don't the weak need to be protected a little bit from the sharks ?
I am from the netherlands, I'm a socialist not a communist and certainly not a capitalist. I don't smoke weed or hash yet I believe in our drug policy. I thought bowling for columbine was a very good movie. As an outsider looking at the USA and Canada I think I would rather live in Canada. I also believe that president bush should clean up his own mess before looking at the rest of the world.
My question is how relevant is all this to the subject at hand?
This guy is a commie, SO WHAT?! Listen to what he says please!
And do you or do you not agree with the fact that; the struggle for control of information has become a political struggle ?
Capitalism seems to be doing at least as much wrong as it does good.
Leninism is a bad form of communism but marxism is quite social and as a concept not to bad. The problem with implementing it is human nature.
Why do Americans despise the concept of communism so much? And furthermore why do Americans evangelize capitalism and Free market economy... don't the weak need to be protected a little bit from the sharks ?
I am from the netherlands, I'm a socialist not a communist and certainly not a capitalist. I don't smoke weed or hash yet I believe in our drug policy. I thought bowling for columbine was a very good movie. As an outsider looking at the USA and Canada I think I would rather live in Canada. I also believe that president bush should clean up his own mess before looking at the rest of the world.
My question is how relevant is all this to the subject at hand?
This guy is a commie, SO WHAT?! Listen to what he says please!
And do you or do you not agree with the fact that; the struggle for control of information has become a political struggle ?
It's really all a joke...
Look at it this way...
The RIAA is the Sheriff of Nottingham and Napster was the Prince of Thieves.
While King Richard (Consumer Affiars/DOJ) was on a crusade (Gates and Co. vs. DOJ) and heavily occupied with it's own agenda, failed to look at the swindling that the Sheriff was doing.
All the Prince of Thieves did was steal from the rich and give to the poor. Mostly the rich were all just that, rich already. Plus the money they were taking belonged to the people anyway in the form of outrageous taxes.
In short Napster made the RIAA realize that it can't expect the people to pay outrageous rates for a product. People have done nothing more then create economic pressure for the RIAA to lower it's already high rates for music. That's it!
Consumer Affairs ought to step in and say. "The reason why people are stealing your product is because you have refused to lower rates with economic pressure and have created a black market for yourselves."
My 2 cents...'cause that's all it's worth.
Look at it this way...
The RIAA is the Sheriff of Nottingham and Napster was the Prince of Thieves.
While King Richard (Consumer Affiars/DOJ) was on a crusade (Gates and Co. vs. DOJ) and heavily occupied with it's own agenda, failed to look at the swindling that the Sheriff was doing.
All the Prince of Thieves did was steal from the rich and give to the poor. Mostly the rich were all just that, rich already. Plus the money they were taking belonged to the people anyway in the form of outrageous taxes.
In short Napster made the RIAA realize that it can't expect the people to pay outrageous rates for a product. People have done nothing more then create economic pressure for the RIAA to lower it's already high rates for music. That's it!
Consumer Affairs ought to step in and say. "The reason why people are stealing your product is because you have refused to lower rates with economic pressure and have created a black market for yourselves."
My 2 cents...'cause that's all it's worth.
Would that make eric raymond little john???
Isn't it marvellous that Old English folk Lore is still taken do seriously.
Esepcially, when you consider that most of it was based on coarse English humour.
For example -
1. who 'Maid Marian'?
2. 'Little John' is a reference to the size of his anatomy.
3. 'Friar Tuck' was the earliest example of a Dr. Spoonerism.
4. 'Will Scarlet' - well we don't want to go there!!
etc. etc.
Esepcially, when you consider that most of it was based on coarse English humour.
For example -
1. who 'Maid Marian'?
2. 'Little John' is a reference to the size of his anatomy.
3. 'Friar Tuck' was the earliest example of a Dr. Spoonerism.
4. 'Will Scarlet' - well we don't want to go there!!
etc. etc.
This has nothing to do with a redistribution of wealth. You want to talk about Robin Hood, you go to a socialist website.
I've got an idea. We all like gnu, right? The GPL works in our eyes? Well, I'm trying to do the same with music. The record companies can eat my undies. Download my music free from <A HREF="http://www.fecundfarrago.com/" TITLE="fecundfarrago.com">Fecund Farrago</a fecundfarrago.com> and distribute all you want. All I ask is this: If you like it, share it and come to our show if we're nearby. If you want to cover a song, great! Just give us some credit. Easy. I say it's about damn time the musicians made the money over the record companies by charging a small cover for their shows. I'm tired of the record companies deciding who is big and who isn't. I'm tired of the same old crap. I say we Free music.
You should build your own site dude and promote free music demos to get some publicity and such.
That's the idea - the link I gave is my site. I should include a word about the free music deal though<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:) I figured the downloads were good enough - but now that you mention it...
Well you should reconsider that.
Collapsing Anus is a Primus steal. And I don't believe that they published in GPL:) Copyrighted work
While rubber (slow part) stamp bas lines originate in RHCP, and Pharaoh's revenge is obviously Metallica remodeled. Let's put it like this SCO would say that you've copied source and changed comments, but without carefull consideration how not to look obvious.
GREAT MUSIC THOUGH, BUT PUBLISHING UNDER GPL, NOPE, WITHOUT LAWSUITS, NOPE.
Collapsing Anus is a Primus steal. And I don't believe that they published in GPL:) Copyrighted work
While rubber (slow part) stamp bas lines originate in RHCP, and Pharaoh's revenge is obviously Metallica remodeled. Let's put it like this SCO would say that you've copied source and changed comments, but without carefull consideration how not to look obvious.
GREAT MUSIC THOUGH, BUT PUBLISHING UNDER GPL, NOPE, WITHOUT LAWSUITS, NOPE.
You should consider using one of the ceative commons licenses. Copyright is represented by a (c) but creative commons id represented by a (cc).
The GNU GPL was designed to Free up software and keep it Free.
Music is a different animal to software. To do to music what the GNU GPL did to software I recommend the creative commons license.
<A HREF="http://www.creativecommons.org/" TITLE="creativecommons.org">creative commons site</a creativecommons.org>
The GNU GPL was designed to Free up software and keep it Free.
Music is a different animal to software. To do to music what the GNU GPL did to software I recommend the creative commons license.
<A HREF="http://www.creativecommons.org/" TITLE="creativecommons.org">creative commons site</a creativecommons.org>
This article presents FALSE alternatives on the issues of future government and IP law. These false alternatives also originate with the actual power behind BOTH the Corporate State currently ruling the USA and the Regional Socialist State currently the "Eoropean Union". This power is called the "Illuminati" and generally comprises 13 families who feel that they have an inherant right to rule us all and are generally Satanic/Luciferian in their religion (or "spirituality" as the Illuminati themselves would refer to it).
Firthermore the Illuminati are the ruling force behind BOTH the modern "Neo Conservitive"
Corporatist "right" and the modern "anti globalization", "anti empire", anti gun environmentalist "left". "If you don't believe this the proof is as close as the FINANCIAL statement of your favorite environmental, anti gun, "population control", "anti war" or "anti globalization" leftist oriented group. You will find that substantial and in many cases CONTROLLING funding for these groups comes from "foundations" run the likes of Bill Gates and other Modern Corporatist Monopolists and the Rockefellars and other 13 Family level ILLUMINATI!!!
There is only ONE acceptable alternative to both of these Illuminati sponsored dictatorships.
That is a return to the ORIGINAL Constitution and Bill of Rights of the American Founding Fathers.
Such a system would include money of REAL value instead of unbacked paper and computer entries churned out like TOILET PAPER by Illuminati controlled "Central Banks", the private ownership of firearms, Real rights to Free Speech, Freedom of Religion and Assembly instead of favoritism to certain (read pro Illuminati program) types of speech, religion and assembly based on "political correctness" and GENUINELY TEMPORARY copyright and patent monopolies that go into the public domain in a timely manner acording to the speed of obsolecense in the industry involved."
As a forinstance I think that copyrights and patents related to computers and software should have a maximum of FIVE YEARS due to the rapid pase of advancement and obsolecense in that industry and that there should be no software related patents at all. In fact if such a five year limit had existed in the 1970's when Richard Stallman was having problems obtaining the souce code to a THEN OBSOLETE printer driver the GNU General Public License and other such "viral" software licenses may not have come into existance
to provide FREE SOFTWARE as the only viable competition to Bill Gates's Fascist monopoly over desktop Operating Systems. Think about THAT Mr Gates!!!
In the meantime we should do our best to pull the nation states that we are citizens of out of the United Nations, any regional unions, Treaties
like the Berne Copyright and Patent agreement the WTO and any other Illuminati originated programs. These are all TREASON, covenants with DEATH and agreements with HELL and should be recognized as and treated as such, and SHUNNED!!!
Firthermore the Illuminati are the ruling force behind BOTH the modern "Neo Conservitive"
Corporatist "right" and the modern "anti globalization", "anti empire", anti gun environmentalist "left". "If you don't believe this the proof is as close as the FINANCIAL statement of your favorite environmental, anti gun, "population control", "anti war" or "anti globalization" leftist oriented group. You will find that substantial and in many cases CONTROLLING funding for these groups comes from "foundations" run the likes of Bill Gates and other Modern Corporatist Monopolists and the Rockefellars and other 13 Family level ILLUMINATI!!!
There is only ONE acceptable alternative to both of these Illuminati sponsored dictatorships.
That is a return to the ORIGINAL Constitution and Bill of Rights of the American Founding Fathers.
Such a system would include money of REAL value instead of unbacked paper and computer entries churned out like TOILET PAPER by Illuminati controlled "Central Banks", the private ownership of firearms, Real rights to Free Speech, Freedom of Religion and Assembly instead of favoritism to certain (read pro Illuminati program) types of speech, religion and assembly based on "political correctness" and GENUINELY TEMPORARY copyright and patent monopolies that go into the public domain in a timely manner acording to the speed of obsolecense in the industry involved."
As a forinstance I think that copyrights and patents related to computers and software should have a maximum of FIVE YEARS due to the rapid pase of advancement and obsolecense in that industry and that there should be no software related patents at all. In fact if such a five year limit had existed in the 1970's when Richard Stallman was having problems obtaining the souce code to a THEN OBSOLETE printer driver the GNU General Public License and other such "viral" software licenses may not have come into existance
to provide FREE SOFTWARE as the only viable competition to Bill Gates's Fascist monopoly over desktop Operating Systems. Think about THAT Mr Gates!!!
In the meantime we should do our best to pull the nation states that we are citizens of out of the United Nations, any regional unions, Treaties
like the Berne Copyright and Patent agreement the WTO and any other Illuminati originated programs. These are all TREASON, covenants with DEATH and agreements with HELL and should be recognized as and treated as such, and SHUNNED!!!
Conspiracy credibility aside, the best alternative is to find ways outside the economy for people to meet their needs, and to weaken forms of property law that consolodate power and wealth.
The nation, no matter the will of the people, is not about to suddenly recall what the Bill of Rights meant and rework things accordingly. What's needed is for thousands of individual communities to do reaffirm their values (I definetly prefer Bill of Rights style, but whatever gets the job done) and authority to live accordingly. A single political group or movement is too easy to derail, discredit, or distract. Thousands of unique small groups saying lifting a middle finger and supporting their members' freedom in different ways can eventually start sucking the lifeblood back. Go build a mesh network and get your city councel to impliment an instant runoff voting system, maybe pass a resolution against the patriot act.
The nation, no matter the will of the people, is not about to suddenly recall what the Bill of Rights meant and rework things accordingly. What's needed is for thousands of individual communities to do reaffirm their values (I definetly prefer Bill of Rights style, but whatever gets the job done) and authority to live accordingly. A single political group or movement is too easy to derail, discredit, or distract. Thousands of unique small groups saying lifting a middle finger and supporting their members' freedom in different ways can eventually start sucking the lifeblood back. Go build a mesh network and get your city councel to impliment an instant runoff voting system, maybe pass a resolution against the patriot act.
The crazy thing is, newsforge is full of so many crazed lunatics that its hard to tell whether this comment really is a joke or not.
lol, i was just thinking that<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. "i honestly have no idea if this guy is joking or not<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. i hope he is!"
ok, tell me this is a joke, right?
Illuminati? I thought that school boy conspiracy died back in the 70's
If you are serious then just one small point that seems to be missed by many correspondents on this site.
'That is a return to the ORIGINAL Constitution and Bill of Rights of the American Founding Fathers.'
Sorry Jack but the great majority of the world ISNT American and has no desire to be, and as for the right to arm bears, oops bear arms, not round here thanks, we dont need that particular American disease in my town.
Illuminati? I thought that school boy conspiracy died back in the 70's
If you are serious then just one small point that seems to be missed by many correspondents on this site.
'That is a return to the ORIGINAL Constitution and Bill of Rights of the American Founding Fathers.'
Sorry Jack but the great majority of the world ISNT American and has no desire to be, and as for the right to arm bears, oops bear arms, not round here thanks, we dont need that particular American disease in my town.
You will see the need for a right to bear arms, money based on TRUE value rather than Central Bank
Decrees as both the Dollar and the Euro currently
are and strictly limited copyright and patent terms based on the speed of obsolecense in the various industries where they are granted when you are carted of to a CONCENTRATION CAMP by your precious Anti Gun Fascist/Socialist/Illuminati superstate for not using THEIR Microsoft "Palladium"<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.NET DRM people control software, supporting their WORLD wide creeping totalitarianism policies of either THEIR Corporatist "right" or THEIR Socialist "left", or not worshipping their DEVIL "god"!!!
I only wish that my forst post was a joke, but it is not. Just TRY to look beyond the garbage that you "learn" in government schools and in the universities today REGARDLESS OF THE NATION INVOLVED and see what is REALLY going on in the world.
Decrees as both the Dollar and the Euro currently
are and strictly limited copyright and patent terms based on the speed of obsolecense in the various industries where they are granted when you are carted of to a CONCENTRATION CAMP by your precious Anti Gun Fascist/Socialist/Illuminati superstate for not using THEIR Microsoft "Palladium"<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.NET DRM people control software, supporting their WORLD wide creeping totalitarianism policies of either THEIR Corporatist "right" or THEIR Socialist "left", or not worshipping their DEVIL "god"!!!
I only wish that my forst post was a joke, but it is not. Just TRY to look beyond the garbage that you "learn" in government schools and in the universities today REGARDLESS OF THE NATION INVOLVED and see what is REALLY going on in the world.
I'm voting tomato.
It's supposed to be, but you can never be quite sure, and it's the oddest fruit you know of.
It's supposed to be, but you can never be quite sure, and it's the oddest fruit you know of.
Dude, I didn't read your article but my eyes skimmed across your capitalized words. Those alone told me your are an extremist troll of one sort or another.
Nearly 20 years after Bill Gates wrote that letter, we Microsoft generously let hobbyists use application called "Internet Explorer" free of charge. Who said M$ stole the look and feel of Netscape? That's not true, troll. If we have no chance of winning, we learn (steal) from the winner and give them away for free. That's how we play the game.
Remember RealPlayer? We didn't like it, so we made something similar and give it away for free. We didn't spend much $ for R&D because we can't make $ yet. MediaPlayer turned out buggy, but who cares. It's free. Don't complain, biatch. Once we dominate the market, we'll lock you in with our proprietary formats and you'll pay us back.
We've stolen so much that there's no more useful applications worth stealing. Maybe it's about the time to make something new from scratch. We are opening up sweatshops in India. Let's get rid of US developers and save R&D. But don't let anyone know that we pay Indian developers only $250/mo. No, we won't drop software price because we need higher profit margin to save Xbox, $$$ for marketing and Ballmer's give-away funds to compete against Linux/OSS. Linux is a cancer.
Remember RealPlayer? We didn't like it, so we made something similar and give it away for free. We didn't spend much $ for R&D because we can't make $ yet. MediaPlayer turned out buggy, but who cares. It's free. Don't complain, biatch. Once we dominate the market, we'll lock you in with our proprietary formats and you'll pay us back.
We've stolen so much that there's no more useful applications worth stealing. Maybe it's about the time to make something new from scratch. We are opening up sweatshops in India. Let's get rid of US developers and save R&D. But don't let anyone know that we pay Indian developers only $250/mo. No, we won't drop software price because we need higher profit margin to save Xbox, $$$ for marketing and Ballmer's give-away funds to compete against Linux/OSS. Linux is a cancer.
> We've stolen so much that there's no more useful applications worth stealing.
You're right, Bill. It's a problem. Even Apple isn't coming through for us these days. We need to find ourselves a new "competitor."<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
Cheers,
Steve
You're right, Bill. It's a problem. Even Apple isn't coming through for us these days. We need to find ourselves a new "competitor."<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
Cheers,
Steve
liked the post. It is part of a larger struggle. People overlook that larger struggle when they talk about IP.
I work for a company that is also obsessed with it. I personally hate it - as it is ati-individual when corporates are involved.
Hopefully soon the argument over IP will be dead and burried along with other banal things on our way to utopia - well a better world anyways<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
I work for a company that is also obsessed with it. I personally hate it - as it is ati-individual when corporates are involved.
Hopefully soon the argument over IP will be dead and burried along with other banal things on our way to utopia - well a better world anyways<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
I disagree to an extent with Bill Gates assertion that IP should have the same rights as tangable property.
But I do not deny that IP rights should exsis. I just think they should expire.
IP is the hard work you do. You fix a car you charge for the service. You driveva taxi you charge for it.
But there must be some limitations. You repair roof you don't charge a fee based on how many people are in the house.
When your gone so is your work so you can't charge anymore.
Your IP rights should expire when you die. Maybe sooner.
Bill Gates wants people to pay for is work of they are to use it. I sympathise.
But what he dose not recognise is that not everyone wants money. It hurts just as bad when somone takes your free softare and sells it as he dose when somone gives away your commertal software.
Say you fix a car for a friend to be a friend. Then you discover someone else charged your friend for the work YOU did.
That is what software theft is like.
But I do not deny that IP rights should exsis. I just think they should expire.
IP is the hard work you do. You fix a car you charge for the service. You driveva taxi you charge for it.
But there must be some limitations. You repair roof you don't charge a fee based on how many people are in the house.
When your gone so is your work so you can't charge anymore.
Your IP rights should expire when you die. Maybe sooner.
Bill Gates wants people to pay for is work of they are to use it. I sympathise.
But what he dose not recognise is that not everyone wants money. It hurts just as bad when somone takes your free softare and sells it as he dose when somone gives away your commertal software.
Say you fix a car for a friend to be a friend. Then you discover someone else charged your friend for the work YOU did.
That is what software theft is like.
If Intellectual Property rights, in there current form, do not exist, than it would not really be possible for someone to take your free software and sell it (unless of course the people buying it are misinformed). It would be free.
Mr. Gates wish to be paid for his work is understandable, but unfortunately his job and his company is based on a rules that Mr. O'Sullivan has shown to be obsolete/destructive/inefficient. O'Sullivan is proposing a fundament change in our goverment. I doubt that he also wishes for people to not get paid for their work - I find it likely that if the world changes as much as O'Sullivan proposes, people will still get paid, but in ways fundamentally different from the current system for work that will also be different from what Mr. Gates currently does.
Mr. Gates wish to be paid for his work is understandable, but unfortunately his job and his company is based on a rules that Mr. O'Sullivan has shown to be obsolete/destructive/inefficient. O'Sullivan is proposing a fundament change in our goverment. I doubt that he also wishes for people to not get paid for their work - I find it likely that if the world changes as much as O'Sullivan proposes, people will still get paid, but in ways fundamentally different from the current system for work that will also be different from what Mr. Gates currently does.
Don't bother clicking on the link to "open-letter-to-hobbyists.html", it's not there<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-(
Funny, that's what the commercial barn builders...
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 21, 2003 12:31 PM
used to whinge about at all the communnity barn raisings. you know the ones that enabled American agriculture to feed the Nation.
Allways some agitators wanting to help their neighbors instead of themselves.
Glad these days Greed is King.
Allways some agitators wanting to help their neighbors instead of themselves.
Glad these days Greed is King.
If you read the page substituting for what used to be at the open-letter-to-hobbyists.html hyperlink, it seems that Newsforge attempted to blitz a Linux-community member's home aDSL line with that link, without checking with him first, and he's understandably annoyed.
Ironically, he's also a laid-off VA Linux engineer. Talk about kicking a guy twice.
Ironically, he's also a laid-off VA Linux engineer. Talk about kicking a guy twice.
Yeah, and in other news, I posted this letter here, last week in regards to another story about Xbox hacking...
Nice to see VA being resourceful and using my post. I'm sure whomever wrote this story saw my post and it was repsonisible for the birth of this article.
This isn't the first time OSDN has ripped an idea from my post and had it re-written. I probably wouldn't mind it if they paid me. (Oh, and i'm not a disgruntiled ex-employee)
Nice to see VA being resourceful and using my post. I'm sure whomever wrote this story saw my post and it was repsonisible for the birth of this article.
This isn't the first time OSDN has ripped an idea from my post and had it re-written. I probably wouldn't mind it if they paid me. (Oh, and i'm not a disgruntiled ex-employee)
Biil gates IP theft
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 18, 2003 10:38 PM#