22 Feb
2006
22 Feb
'06
1:06 a.m.
A computer program is much more than an integer - it is a collection of
Words (translated through many layers) into zeros and ones that represent
A unique solution to a problem.
Essentially it all boils down to zeros and ones (or varying degrees of
current) through a bunch of wires and chips.
Nevertheless, they do represent the intent of the author to create a unique
Solution to some problem.
That is like saying no one can patent a piece of electric powered machinery
because it is all just electrons, and no one has a patent on electrons.
The patent is not on the electrons, but on the unique way they are used.
Phil J.
On Tue, Feb 21, 2006 at 10:02:46PM -0600, pjfjacks wrote:
A computer program is created as a collection of words
- a unique
collection
of those words, that when compiled and executed on a
target OS will
(hopefully!) perform some function(s).
No. A computer program is not it's source code. That's an important
distinction to make!
A computer cannot run your source code. The source code is merely
there so you do not have to write out big integers to make the
computer do some work.
If I write code down on a piece of paper, a computer will *never,
ever* be able to run *that*. I must enter it in a digital form and
have it translated by some kind of compiler/interpreter/virtual
machine/whatever.
However, if I draw a picture on that piece of paper, it is already
serving as a perfectly good picture. That's why I say a computer
program is merely an integer.
To say that a software author cannot "own"
that software nor have
copyrights
to it is the same as to say an author / poet /
screenwriter / columnist /
etc. cannot have any control over his work (or get paid for doing it) once
it is finished.
This is preciely the thesis that I debunked in my first mail. I do
see something funadementally different because a computer program (not
the source code) is merely an integer.
Like I said to Lee - I don't necessarily feel like I'm ready to throw
away all copyright as a result. There are oodles of pragmatic reasons
to keep it.
But I also find it very uncomfortable to assert ownership to an
integer.
--
Ross Vandegrift
ross(a)lug.udel.edu
"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
--St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37