*BSD News Article 16402


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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!udel!news.intercon.com!psinntp!uuneo!sugar!peter
From: peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: The free software myth and the commerical myth
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Sat, 22 May 1993 16:10:56 GMT
Message-ID: <C7FrM9.M15@sugar.NeoSoft.COM>
Keywords: free commercial software debate flames
References: <C75LC8.LxB@cscns.com>
Lines: 21

In article <C75LC8.LxB@cscns.com> mass@cscns.com (Mike Jones/Mountain Alternative Systems) writes:
>         THE MYTH OF FREE SOFTWARE AND THE MYTH OF THE COMMERCIAL GOD

(lots of references to Linux, why is this in comp.os.386bsd?)

I think part of the problem is that lots of people out there don't understand
what capitalism, free enterprise, intellectual property, and so on. They think
that capitalism and free enterprise are the same thing, for example, or that
intellectual property is a result of capitalism and/or free enterprise. It
isn't... in fact it's an artificial construct created because it enhances the
common good... in a pure libertarian free market system it wouldn't exist.
Dongles, formal contracts (non-disclosure agreements, really hairy licenses,
and so on), and even timeshared-only services would be the order of the day.

I'm not sure where to direct followups to, so I'll leave the newsgroups line
alone until someone suggests a better one.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  <peter@sugar.neosoft.com>.
 `-_-'   Har du kramat din varg idag?
  'U`    
"Det er min ledsager, det er ikke drikkepenge."