21 Feb
2006
21 Feb
'06
3:57 p.m.
On Tue, 2006-02-21 at 00:15 +0100, fons adriaensen wrote:
On Mon, Feb 20, 2006 at 05:41:05PM -0500, Rob wrote:
Well said!
--
Jan 'Evil Twin' Depner
The Fuzzy Dice
http://myweb.cableone.net/eviltwin69/fuzzy.html
"As we enjoy great advantages from the invention of others, we should be
glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and
this we should do freely and generously."
Benjamin Franklin, on declining patents offered by the governor of
Pennsylvania for his "Pennsylvania Fireplace", c. 1744
They have the legal right, thanks to a century of
lobbying by
people who had too much money to begin with, but the idea that
they have the moral right is purely your opinion. Despite
making my living writing and oftentimes selling software, I
don't share that opinion.
The moral part results from your accepting the terms of the
license, which is a contract between you and the creator of
the software you buy. In this contract you usually agree not
to harm the commercial interest of the creator by distributing
his work to people who do not pay him/her for it.
By defaulting on a contract or not keeping your promises by
your own choice you demonstrate your lack of respect for the
other party, and as a result you won't get much in return.
And since the society we live in depends to a large extent
on contracts being honored and promises being kept rather
than on the the use of physical force, chances are you will
be punished for that sort of behavior.
A lot of things - software, literature, music,... have a
value that is not encapsulated in their physical form.
It's one of the features of a phenomenon called 'culture',
or 'civilisation'. Failing to acknowledge this is as stupid
as postulating that humans can't think or feel - it is
materialism in its most primitive and ugly form.