[Fsf-friends] Re: [ilug-goa] My thoughts on the IP and Software

Sun, 8 Dec 2002 00:04:51 +0530 (IST)

A young friend from Goa has circulated his views. If you have any
comments, please free to send them to him. Thanks, FN

On Sat, 7 Dec 2002, Sanil Talaulikar wrote:

> Dear ilugers,
> 	There have been a no. of arguments put forth and back
> on the issue of IP and its implications.My
> understanding of these issues is very limited.This is
> a humble attempt by me to improve my understanding of
> these issues.What actually happened was i was trying
> to study for my exams when all these thoughts occured
> to me and the only way i could clear my mind of them
> was to type them down.
> 
> Feel free to comment/critisize the various points i
> have raised because thats the only way i can further
> improve my understanding of these complex
> topics.(invitation to crucify me ;-) )
> 
> regards,
> Sanil
> 
> My thoughts on the IP and Software
> 
> 
> 
> The question i feel should be asked is not whether
> knowledge should be proprietory or free
> but whether the possesion of that knowledge puts that
> person in a position to exploit society.
> 
> I see nothing wrong in a person making money out of
> intellectual property that he has created as the
> person who creates IP is creating value which did not
> exist before.The idea is similar to a farmer who uses
> land and freely available rain and sunlight to grow
> new crops.
>  
> The real issue here is whether the possession of IP
> puts the person in a position to exploit others.
> For example,An Operating System such as Windows makes
> a computer usable,It is a driver for productivity in
> the modern world.computer knowledge is becoming almost
> a necessity and something one cannot almost do
> without.Thus by selling proprietory windows(and
> restricting freedoms) at a price which people of
> developing countries cannot afford The gap between the
> haves and havenot's further increases
>  
> This the society should not allow to happen.The GPL is
> a great way to prevent this exploitation.The great
> thing about GPL(GNU Public Lisence)
>  is that it assures contributing members that their
> contributions remain protected.People will only
> contribute freely when they feel that their
> contributions will not be commercially exploited.I
> consider GPL an ingenious tool in the hands of the
> society to prevent its exploitation(and its creator a
> genius). 
> 
> But i dont subscribe to the extreme view that all
> software should be GPl'ed.This is because the only way
> a person can make money from GPl'ed software is by
> 1)training people to use it and
> 2) distributing it .
> 	As regards to 1), according to me software should be
> so easy to use that it should not require training at
> all.If i want to make money out of GPL'ed software i
> have to make my software 
> difficult to use so that i can earn from it.This again
> puts the creator and contributors of Gpl'ed software
> in a unique position to exploit user's by charging a
> high fee.
> 
> 	Ideally GNU/Linux should be so easy to use that it
> empowers people so that more and more people can take
> part in the digital revolution and contribute to
> it(and we are getting there).
> 
> 
> As regards to 2) How much money can you actually make
> by distributing GPL'ed software?The problem is that it
> costs nothing for a person who has obtained the
> software directly through me to make one copy of it or
> a million copies of it or distribute it on the
> Internet. This is a crucial point on which software
> differs from other products.If have bought a car or
> any other tangible product i need to own the means to
> produce/modify it before i can think of reproducing
> it.Even then i will incurr a cost on every item i
> produce.
> 
> 
> The only way the software creator can earn from his
> creation is by restricting certain freedoms The Open
> source licensces allow this.
> 
> According to me even creating proprietory software is
> not bad as long as the creator does'nt intend to
> exploit users or divide society.for example,i need not
> provide the source code for software i developed for a
> commercial store because the owner of commercial store
> is unlikely to be interested in it as long as it
> increases his productivity.In fact, the commercial
> store is in 
> a position to exploit me if i provide provide him with
> freedoms to distribute, copy and modify the software
> and its source.
> 
> One may point out,if i have bought a car i am not
> forced to go to the car manufacturer for service or
> modifications, i have the freedom to choose to who
> services or modifies my car.
> But again it is the nature of software that forces its
> creator to put these restrictions.When i go to a
> service station i dont provide the blueprint of the
> car to him.Even if he has the blueprint he still does
> not have means to reproduce it.
> 
> Finally it all comes down to what purpose the software
> is being used and the intentions of its creator.  
> 
> 
> 
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