Re: Bitkeeper licence issues

Roman Zippel
2002-03-19T18:42:45Z

Hi,

"David S. Miller" wrote:

> Unfortunately, the real economics of the world right now does not make
> it so that every programmer can work on %100 free software for a
> living like I do.
>
> That is a fact.
>
> Given that, most programmers have to find another way to put food into
> their stoamches and have a horizontal surface to sleep on at night.
>
> The person who wrote the article in question may have a few
> inaccuracies about how free software works, I'll give you that,
> but that guy has a perfect understand about how REAL LIFE works.
> That is where you need understand things better.

If he had a clue about how real economics works, he wouldn't complaining
like that and didn't had to learn it the hard way. Free software is
simply no business model. Of course we have to make our living somehow,
but everyone who is in it only for the money, should immediately stop
working on free software and send his resume to MS.

MS has a far better understanding of how "real economics" works than he
has and MS is very right to be very afraid of free software, so that
they even try to outlaw it. So far MS has actually played rather nice, I
would bet with you, that we have seen nothing from them yet.

I'm not saying that there is no money to make with free software, but a
better understanding of economics would help how to do this (to actually
put this into praxis is of course another story) and would prevent us
from such whining.

Some comparison are actually quite helpful to understand the current
economics. Look at the costs of development and the costs for
reproduction of goods. Now compare how different industries make their
profits here. Look also at how these costs develop over time. Try to
think this through consequently. If you do this you really get a better
understanding of _real_ life. I'm not claiming to be perfect in this,
but I know that that guy is an ignorant, who has to run against a wall
to notice that there is one and he is even proud of it.

Free software is just a forerunner of things to come. The same mechanism
are at work and visible in the entertainment industry. If you look
closer at other industries, you can find the same mechanisms only
prevented by massive protectionism. Try to imagine, what it means for an
economic, which is based on trade, if goods can be produced at almost no
cost. Current world trade has already in several areas not much to do
with "trade" anymore and I'm not very optimistic how this can get any
better with the current economic model.

The more one thinks about it, the more one also has to ask oneself, how
to get food into the stomachs tomorrow. I know that for most people it's
more important to make a living today (and many are busy enough with
this), but that shouldn't prevent us from thinking about the
consequences of our actions.

Above may sound harsh, but I'm just amazed about the shortsightedness of
some people and how they are trying to blame other people for their own
mistakes.

bye, Roman

PS: I know it's getting OT, but I think it's important enough that it
should be said and I'm feeling better now. :)