[OS:N:] Another multiple response

"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Those who feed of the society by creating artificial monopolies might 
> eat less, but everyone else would eat better.

Would they? How long would it take the average person to learn a subject
if there weren't people out there working hard to provide instructional
materials of various forms? How many of these people use this
information in their own work, to better their performance, etc?

A lot of the people generating these materials only have the time to do
this because the work, in turn, helps to put food on their table. I
write for free for a couple of different projects and it's draining in
both time and resources. 

I'm pretty tired of the general devaluing of writing as a profession.
This just adds to the problem.
> 
> You mentioned intellectual property, Les. It's a legal idea. That's 
> where it comes from. It was created by manmade law. It didn't come from 
> nature. No other animal has it. Even man didn't have it until quite 
> recently in our history.

I'm sure animals don't really care about motorbikes or scooters, either.
> 
> People could believe in common decency and respect for the work and 
> abilities of others could but still come to the the conclusion that 
> monopolies on ideas should be abolished. From my point of view, these 
> ideas coexist far better than the current system.

It seems to me, IP producer that I am, that you're the one that doesn't
have respect for how much work goes into what many of us do. 

I do agree that sometimes IP is used stupidly. There are algorithm
textbooks out there where you're not allowed to actually use the
algorithms they include for instruction, which I think is ridiculous and
is a policy I won't allow when I work on a project (fortunately, no
publisher has tried to get me to agree to it either). I am also very
against the copyright extensions, which were purely a corporate grab
while those same corporations (various Hollywood corps and Disney for
example) use tons of public domain material to make their products. Talk
about hypocrasy.

> I believe that the fact that you are a beneficiary of the current system 
> gives you a bias. Do you also believe that the recent extension of 
> copyrights is going to generate more creativity for society because 
> people who would not have otherwise created ideas will now do so because 
> their heirs can benefit for an additional 20 years after their deaths 
> than they would have before the extension was enacted?

A lot of writers don't agree with the extensions. Trust me, they weren't
done for OUR benefit. You seem fond, though, of tarring and feathering
large groups of people without seeming to really understand what's
involved in what they do.

I guess I'll have to join Les over in the capitalist pig corner

"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:

> The problem with reform is that people like Les and many others who are 
> feeding much more fully than he probably is off of the current system 
> have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and do not even 
> want to seriously look at the side effects of it that hurt society.

OMG, this makes me laugh so hard. Do you have any idea of how
pathetically little writers make? :) We're not programmers or engineers.
We're lucky to make even half of what they make. Lucky. 

Technical writers are the first people to be cut from staff when a
company wants to "tighten its belt" because who needs specialist to
write manuals? Just have the programmers do it in their copious spare
time!

I needed a good laugh. Phew.

-- 
Dee-Ann LeBlanc
Lots of things Linux
http://www.Dee-AnnLeBlanc.com/


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