Re: Intellectual Property II

[Alexander Terekhov]

(I've been quoting http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/IPCoop/87land1.html)

Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 2006-02-10 at 18:39 +0100, Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> > ................................ The dynamic benefit of a property
> > right is the incentive that the right imparts to invest in the
> > creation or improvement of a resource .........................
> > ............................................................
> > ...................................... For example, a firm is less
> > likely to expend resources on developing a new product if competing
> > firms that have not borne the expense of development can duplicate
> > the product and produce it at the same marginal cost as the
> > innovator; competition will drive price down to marginal cost, and
> > the sunk costs of invention will not be recouped.
> 
> Nicely put piece of non-sequitor FUD :)
> 
> If the history of Free Software proves anything, it's the opposite of
> this "theory".

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/12/linux_gpl30_letters/

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The thing is, apart from the obvious weaknesses about making a lot of 
ballyhoo about a clanking Unix clone, it's a complete work of hypocrisy. 
Lots of huge corporations pour fortunes into OSS development like Oracle 
and HP into software like Apache and Linux. They get their development 
done at bargain basement prices and OSS gets a fat subsidy from select 
sugar daddies. Together your moral foundations are being built on 
quicksand. You can't fight your number one enemy (Microsoft as has been 
clearly stated) without making its competitors fatter in the process.

[...]

I think I also get a sense of impending failure: as Linux matures there 
is really a creeping sense of failure around the project. It hasn't 
blew Windows off the desktop, has made modest gains into servers and 
commercially has only really blossomed where cheapest is key. Much of 
its surrounding software is either poor quality, arcane in design and 
administration, outdated or a weak imitation of something commercial.
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regards,
alexander.