Comment It's not about trust (Score 1) 119
Amen, brother. I am in exactly the same bind.
As a developer, I find it ethically appealing to work for free and donate my source code to the world. But I rely on its intrinsic value to survive. I write code. People buy it. I get a check. I buy food. Life is OK.
In one quarter, I will graduate with a Computer Science degree. The schooling wasn't free (student loans - ack!). The books weren't free. My computer at home wasn't free either. And I will spend a lot of time and effort to continually learn this trade. It is stimulating and enjoyable and I love it. The knowledge isn't secret or arcane; anyone could buy a book and learn to code. But I get paid to apply my skills to problems and to think of new ways to solve old ones. This is my passion. It's not about money. I chose this profession because it is what I like to do. And, fortuitously, there is a market for my skills.
Music CDs are copyrighted to protect the underlying IP. Anyone might transcribe, sample, or adapt recorded music. It is protected because people buy CDs, and there is value in the music on them. If everything winds up on MP3 and is free for the taking, how will musicians survive?
What about other artists or authors? If their IP is free for the taking, how do they support themselves?
The concept of open source and GPL is wonderful and I see great hope in it. But as much as I would love to live communally, share without reservation, and contribute my code to the common good of all humanity, it boils down to two things:
(1) I like to eat
(2) I like to live indoors
If I give my code away as an act of nobility, and donate my consulting services (since apparently this constitutes parasitism), then I hope you won't mind me sleeping on your couch and raiding your fridge. After all, we're sharing, right?
If you can convince enough people to form a networked barter community, count me in.
I will gladly trade my skills for those of a doctor, a dentist, a farmer, and a landlord. I don't even like keeping track of cash. Unfortunately, the rest of society still requires money, and until the GPL concept extends beyond software source code, this is a dream at best.
As a developer, I find it ethically appealing to work for free and donate my source code to the world. But I rely on its intrinsic value to survive. I write code. People buy it. I get a check. I buy food. Life is OK.
In one quarter, I will graduate with a Computer Science degree. The schooling wasn't free (student loans - ack!). The books weren't free. My computer at home wasn't free either. And I will spend a lot of time and effort to continually learn this trade. It is stimulating and enjoyable and I love it. The knowledge isn't secret or arcane; anyone could buy a book and learn to code. But I get paid to apply my skills to problems and to think of new ways to solve old ones. This is my passion. It's not about money. I chose this profession because it is what I like to do. And, fortuitously, there is a market for my skills.
Music CDs are copyrighted to protect the underlying IP. Anyone might transcribe, sample, or adapt recorded music. It is protected because people buy CDs, and there is value in the music on them. If everything winds up on MP3 and is free for the taking, how will musicians survive?
What about other artists or authors? If their IP is free for the taking, how do they support themselves?
The concept of open source and GPL is wonderful and I see great hope in it. But as much as I would love to live communally, share without reservation, and contribute my code to the common good of all humanity, it boils down to two things:
(1) I like to eat
(2) I like to live indoors
If I give my code away as an act of nobility, and donate my consulting services (since apparently this constitutes parasitism), then I hope you won't mind me sleeping on your couch and raiding your fridge. After all, we're sharing, right?
If you can convince enough people to form a networked barter community, count me in.
I will gladly trade my skills for those of a doctor, a dentist, a farmer, and a landlord. I don't even like keeping track of cash. Unfortunately, the rest of society still requires money, and until the GPL concept extends beyond software source code, this is a dream at best.
