Still no new license -- but draft text available

[John W. Stevens]

Olivier Dagenais wrote:
> 
> > > Stallman has fairly well soured on his whole "copyleft" notion
> > > anyway. Free software is winning, the rest of us see little need
> > > for communism. Which is exactly what copyleft is, IMO.
> > What utter and total nonsense.  Copyleft is not about communism, it is
> > about removing artificial barriers to competition.  Copyleft is, quite
> > simply, cooperative-competition, which works by competing over "I have a
> > better idea", rather than, "I've hidden my ideas".
> 
> This is the part about "Copyleft" that I don't understand:  "I have a better
> idea" will be a valid statement until you ship (or you check in your code),
> at which point everybody else is free to use that "better idea".

Exactly!

> How can
> you sell a product that is no better than your competitors'?

If your product is *exactly* the same as your competitors, then you
differentiate yourself in a different way.  Your question is
interesting, but has already been answered by Ford/Lincoln/Mercury.

> Or rather, how
> can you sell anything if the end user can simply build it themselves?

Which suggests a different distribution model.  Instead of "pay per
copy", it's "pay per request".  Since not everybody can be a computer
scientist, there will always be people willing to pay for work to be
done.

You question is akin to the old question of: "Since everybody can change
their own oil, then how can Jiffy Lube make any money?"

Think about it . . .

-- 

If I spoke for HP --- there probably wouldn't BE an HP!

John Stevens
jstevens at basho.fc.hp.com