Re: bias

Deven T. Corzine wrote:

> On Tue, 4 Jun 2002, Roland wrote:
>
>  
>
>> At 05:08 PM 6/4/02 -0400, Deven T. Corzine wrote:
>>
>>   
>>
>>> How can we support the GPL and still prevent such disaster?
>>>     
>>
>> I think you have some valid points in your arguments, but on the 
>> other hand it's not true that the programmer profession is 
>> endangered. At most, ONE business model of programming is endangered, 
>> and that is, the one where the PROGRAM is sold. But you can still 
>> make money by bespoken software, or being hired in a company(like 
>> myself) to program for company specific problems.
>>   
>
>
> No, several business models are endangered, not just 
> software-as-product.  Basically, any business model which demands SOME 
> compensation from users (whether a little or a lot) is threatened by 
> the GPL, which ensures that the user can get it for free from someone 
> else.  "Free" is very powerful; people often go out of their way to 
> get something free, even if paying would have been cheaper than the 
> cost of going out of their way.
>  
>
why doesn't the same reasoning apply to restraunts, garages, 
lawnservices, maidservices, lawyers...

> Forcing software to be available for free encourages users to indulge 
> this propensity for seeing freebies, and threatens the ability of 
> companies to derive any stable revenue stream from software 
> development, which in turn makes it more difficult to fund 
> development.  Sure, there will still be work for programmers, but 
> maybe not enough.  And plenty of software that could benefit the users 
> may not get written.  It's a nasty Catch-22.
>
Right now Microsoft owns something in excess of 90 percent of the 
desktop market but people still buy RedHat. Now I know that they have 
yet to make a substantial profit but the fact remains that people are 
buying the product.  Part of the reason for this may be simply good will 
but part of it is because the provide a nice package that includes 
support. Now they are doing this with a very small market share and lets 
face it most of the people using it are not Joe Public.  So it stands to 
reason that they had a larger maket share thier profits would be larger. 

>
> And don't pick nits with me about how the GPL doesn't require the code 
> be made available to the general public.  I'm aware of this, but in 
> effect, it doesn't matter.  All it takes is ONE user to release it 
> into the wild, so it's bound to happen for most GPL software, sooner 
> or later.  The problem is that the GPL requires that anyone with the 
> software be able to give it away for free if they choose, which 
> negates any profit incentive.
>
Most people do not know what to do with source code.  Hell I make a 
modest income from installing software for people that don't know how to 
do that. And the thing is that GPL says nothing about having to give 
away the binaries for free.  It only says that if you sell the binaries 
you must provide the source. So  that user or someone else has to know 
what to do with the source code and make binaries that will work (and 
support them) or the average user won't use it. Now you can pick that nit.

>
> I'm not saying that doomsday WILL come to pass, but I haven't seen any 
> compelling arguments that it WON'T.  I've seen the arguments; they 
> contain implicit assumptions which may not hold in an all-GPL world, 
> and they're not compelling arguments.  They read more like wishful 
> rationalizations trying to come to a predetermined conclusion, because 
> a negative conclusion is clearly unacceptable.  Well, reality will 
> take its course whether or not the conclusion is an acceptable one.
>
> I'd like something more solid than wishful thinking to believe that my 
> profession will still be viable in 10, 20, 50 or 100 years...
>
You want a crystall ball. Life is full of uncertainties.  Computers 
eliminated some jobs like  telephone operators and accountants, Sure 
there are still some telephone operators and even more accountants but 
the the job is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago.  Now if you 
expect the programming profession to  remain static (*GPL or not) you 
are deluded. *GPL changes the nature of the game for sure but the need 
for programmers will still be there even if it did eliminate proprietory 
software.


Tony Lambregts