Re: Economics and the GPL

"Roger Fujii" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Why does market share alter why it's unfair?  You can say the effects
> are minimal UNTIL it has a sizeable market share, but I fail to see why that
makes it 
> right.

Now we are getting into the whole ethics of antitrust laws.  And I think one
can make a perfectly valid, reasonable argument that what is "fair" should not
depend on one's market share.  Personally, I see it as the difference between a
boxing match between equals and one between Mike Tyson and a child.  When one
side has an overwhelming advantage, I think you do need to change the rules if
you want to have a fight in which either side has an opportunity to win.  Is
handicapping a golfer's or bowler's score unfair?  I think it depends on what
your goals are.

> > In that sense, I don't see the GPL as being any different than
> > placing a fixed price tag on any good or service.
> 
> But the price isn't FIXED.  

I meant it is fixed in the sense that the same price applies to everyone:  all
your derived code in return for all of my original code.  

>You can't say, "I'll do this for 100 lines for code."

That's exactly what I meant: the GPL does not allow the creators of two derived
works to say "I'll trade you this function for that function".  All derived
works have to give all their code to everyone.

> why not use MPL (or any other reasonable copyleft) instead?  

That's certainly a possibility.  I need to educate myself more about such
licenses.


=====
Sincerely,
Matt Seitz

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