[Patents] Re: World Intellectual Property Day is April 26, 2001

[Luuk.van.Dijk@xs4all.nl (Luuk van Dijk)]

On Thu, 26 Apr 2001 20:07:04 webmaster@softwarelaw.com wrote:
> Mr. Pilch,
> 
> The basis of your public policy is ludicrous.
> 
> I used to work in software development, and I know that the best software 
> developers
> do not work for free.  In the short-term, they have expenses to pay for.  
> In the long-term,
> they must provide for retirement, and they often have the ambition of 
> becoming rich from their efforts.
> 

You confuse Free Software (free as in free speech) with free software (free 
as in free beer).

Lots of people are making Real Money(tm) using and producing Free software, 
and lots of it.
For an explanation of what business models may be built with this paradigm 
you may want to
study "Open Sources, voices from the revolution" ISBN 1-56592-582-3.  Some 
people for example
make a living by providing high quality services on cheap but technologically 
superior software
components.  They make a profit on the services, but have an interest in 
keeping the building
blocks cheap an technically superior.  

(Also, some of the best programmers I've met *did* work for free on their 
software projects, and 
some of the least talented were the ones that really wanted a 'hacker' 
reputation and a high salary,
despite the fact that they only mastered visual basic after a six weeks 
course. But that's besides
the point.)

Furthermore, the issue of Free vs. proprietary software is logically 
independent of the issue
of having or not having patents.  Producers of proprietary software can be 
seriously harmed by
monopolies on abstract ideas, or on trivial ideas.  Patents can also render 
copyright a useless
protection.  Authors of Free software depend as much on copyright as authors 
of non-free software.

Becoming rich from one's effort is not an interest that is served by all your 
competitors having a 
monopoly on every move you might make, whether you want to give away your 
source code or not.

The MP's in the Netherlands were not very impressed by the fate of the poor 
Free Software community,
but were pretty appalled at the possible consequences for all (traditional) 
SME's of bad patent laws.

> The free software is ultimately doomed to be swept away into the dustbin of 
> history, along with socialism.

Bad laws and short sighted greed however, are probably going to remain with 
us to eternity.
At least I hope we can get rid of the lawyers at the next revolution :-)

Luuk van Dijk

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Mind over Matter         Mind.over.Matter@xs4all.nl
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