"Rudy Kreutz" <rkreutz@floridacirtech.com> wrote in message news:3E81FFE1.422900B7@floridacirtech.com... > Ewan Sinclair wrote: > > > > >The thing is that there is nowhere else in the world where you can > > "steal" > > > >something without actually depriving someone of it. Comparisons with > > > >physical objects are woefully inadequate. > > > > > > Books / Plagerism / Copyrights / Patents / Identity > > > > Fair point sir, I forgot that one. I was just thinking about libraries today > > actually. I see students who have paid vast sums of money going to them only > > to find the books they need for their papers are not available. In an age > > where information is infinite and as good as free to distribute, this seems > > inexcusable. These libraries should be paying some kind of license fee to > > the publishers. > > > > Also, if someone patents a log fire(for the sake of argument) it's still ok > > to build a log fire, just not to sell it. If people had to pay royalties > > every time they built their own log fire, this would be quite ridiculous. > > Perhaps you will recall the incident with a company patenting the strain of > > rice that a massive portion of some country(I can't recall which, somewhere > > around India methinks) and then telling the inhabitants that they were no > > longer allowed to make their living from it. > > > > > > I'd personally support simply taxing harder and then paying developers > > to > > > > release freeware. It would make far more sense, and stop programmers > > from > > > > starving. > > > > > > Heh, what planet are you from? Communism makes no sense. It rewards and > > > encourages mediocrity. > > > > Hey, who whoa whoa, at what point did I mention communism? I think you are > > quite right on that one, and it has been proven not to work time after time. > > It's a little sad that suggesting that changing the way things currently are > > is instantly branded as communist propoganda. > > > > > If a programmer can't prevent starvation he needs a > > > better education, better work ethic, or different line of work. > > > > In that case, you may as well resign yourself to branding all programmers as > > lazy, uneducated and useless, because the more people realise they don't > > have to pay for software, the less they will do so. We can already see this > > happening to the music industry, the business model needs to change for the > > sake of the people who create the software/music. > > > > > What are you taxing? If the software is all free, you must be taxing > > > hardware, or non-users -a punishment to hardware manufacurers, or > > non-users. > > > > I'm no expert on how taxation systems work, but I'm reasonably sure that > > it's possible to "charge" every citizen a certain amount of money every year > > that will go into the software development fund. perhaps citizens could then > > vote on which companies they want the money to go to, and what they want > > developed. Alternatively, software companies could try pitching the concept > > of a piece of software, then taking paid preorders before they start coding. > > I suppose they could also just program the thing and then ask for a certain > > number of orders before the thing is released(read: pirated by every man and > > his pet dachsund) so that they are guaranteed money. Not enough money, no > > software for anyone. > > > > I personally think the last two ideas wouldn't really fly, but the first > > might. The curent idea won't, it is failing. > > > > > >Attempting to make the current system work is doomed to failure, > > > > and there isn't really anything fundamentally wrong with piracy, > > > > > > Thou shall not steal is quite fundamental. > > > > Yes, but "Thou shalt not make unauthorised copies" is not. It is only called > > stealing by some because there is no decent term to properly describe it. > > However, the good wholesome bible doesn't have a one line answer for this > > one. By the way, was it you that was maligning communist ideals earlier? I > > don't support them, but I'd take them over biblical ones any day of the > > week. > > > > > Progressive? Like communism? > > > > Kindly explain how communism is progressive, I don't understand. > > > > Ewan > > I'll take a stab at this. The progressive/communism line was sarcasm. On that > first idea that you had. charging the citizen a tax for software they don't even > have developed yet. So you wanna take, say $5 out of my pocket a year, to give > it to some company that makes software. A company that i have very little choice > in giving it to. (i vote for comp. A, comp. B wins) now they are developing a > software line that i don't want or need. and, they already have the money and > have used it. (presumably) What if the company fails or is embezzled? all the > money is gone, and there is no product. They (comp B) could just say that the > software was too hard to make, but all the money was spent any ways. So i get no > "tax refund" for no product. My, along with all the other peoples money is just > gone. > This is exactly what happened in the USSR in the 80's. They (gov't) took > everybody's money and redistributed it to everybody equally. then they took a > hefty tax and gave that to favorite companies to produce goods. which usually > never got produced, but the money disappeared. Usually to be found in a bank > belonging to some gov't official. > By far the easiest way I think is free economy. The companies gets investors, > produces a product, and sells it. In the selling they hope to make enough to pay > off the creditors, pay the cost of good and set up to manufacture the next > product. > In software, we have the added problem of technology outpacing the industry. > Meaning things go out of style. In the case of TA, cavedog met their goal of > paying off the creditors, and making enough money to keep then fat, dumb and > happy. So no more TA was made. The only real way to get around the piracy issue > this long after a company abandons the product line, would be for them to > release all EULA's and open the source code. should cost them nothing or next to > nothing to do. > How ever, this was not done. Because cavedog had plans (kind of) to get a TA2 > going and use that same source code. So in effect, the EULA still stands and > downloading any part of the software covered by the EULA is stealing. It BELONGS > to cavedog. They are just letting you play with it. If you give away something > that belongs to someone else, you better be bigger and badder then they are. Or > face the potential consequences > You just saved me a lot of typing, thanks. Mr. Sinclair, Your "vote on it" thing does place competition / incentive back into the mix, but you still have everybody being forced to pay for what only some will use. CJ
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