RE: GPL and Economics

> The GPL sets up a very simple barter economy for INTELLECTUAL 
> PROPERTY. 
> Software is worth almost nothing because the costs of 
> producing multiple
> copies are almost nothing.  It's the intellectual property in that
> software that is worth something.
> 
> The GPL is a license to intellectual property that works like this: 
> Alice releases her software under the GPL.  This is in fact 
> an offer to
> Barter (Buying and selling are the same in a barter economy).  For
> purposes of this discussion the other party will be called Bob.
[snip]
> All of this is EXACTLY the way a Free Market economy is supposed to
> work.  Alice offers something of value (distribution rights to her IP)
> in exchange for something else of value (distribution rights to Bob's
> IP).  Alice advertises her product by making certain things 
> available to
> all third parties.

Note that the possible economic transaction are not as fine grained as they
are in normal markets. So the market is not truely free because of this.

[snip]

Also note that much of that you say later can be said about all open source
licenses in general whether they are copyleft like the GPL or not.

So this doesn't nessarily mean that GPL should be the open source license
of choice. I think most people on this list are pro open source so it wasted
effort to preach the advantages of open source to them.

The possibillity to add proprietory addition that most open source licenses
(GPL exluded) allows, at least short term, to make it possible to generate
income to pay developers because of the monopoly on the proprietory addition
given by copyright law. With this money it makes it possible to release
other parts of the work under an open source license. While this for
(non-GPL)
isn't mandatory it quite obviously makes it possible to for "good" people to
finance their work so more and more code eventually will be released.

So you also have to show why the GPL despite this drawback is superior. This
haven't been done. You have only tried to show that it can work not that it
is better. I don't doubt it CAN work, just like I don't doubt digging a
large
hole with a spoon is possible but I seriously doubt that it is the best way.