Re: bias

Deven T. Corzine wrote:

>
>If my profession becomes naturally obsolete because of future advancements 
>in computing (like self-programming computers), then so be it.  However, if 
>computers continue to require skilled labor, which can no longer earn a 
>decent living because of the GPL, then I'll have a reason to be upset, just 
>like factory workers have reason to be upset about imports from countries 
>where the workers are so poorly paid that they're virtually slave labor...
>
>Deven
>

I have yet to see a decent argument proving skilled computer workers' 
livelihood are threatened by GPL.  First, most skilled computer 
professionals do not make a living off commercial software: most make 
their money off in-house support and in-house development.  This 
includes sysadmins, programmer/analysts, DBAs, desktop support, 
application support, and helpdesk, to name a few.  Most of these 
professions make decent money.  Also, a lot of these people like to 
program, and contribute to free software projects because they like to 
program; and Microsoft only hires a few programmers a year, compared to 
the number of people who like to program (and are good at it).

The idea that the GPL is going to destroy all computer jobs is a red 
herring.  It is going to be a long, long time before computers are 
completely self-sufficient, and until that day, computer professionals 
will be in high demand, even if they don't earn their money by cobbling 
together some VBA recipe database, or some new "revolutionary" but 
proprietary web extension.  Coders are generally payed only about the 
middle of the spectrum, on-par with sysadmins (just as an off-the-cuff, 
not-talking-MCSE-here, haven't-looked-at-a-want-ad-in-months type of 
guess).  DBAs are payed *very* well, much better than most programmers. 
 Sysadmins and DBAs are *not* going away.  Neither are the other 
professions.  (Oh!  Network admins get payed well, too.)  The GPL makes 
these professions easier, not harder; so I see it as a good thing.

This debate has already wasted too much of my valuable programming time; 
I suspect it's wasted a lot of time for other people, as well.  It's not 
a debate that either side is going to win, no matter how much RMS- or 
Brett Glass-inspired rhetoric gets thrown around.  I'm going back to 
lurking again.

                    - Tony