Re: [MacPerl] Distributables?

[Chris Nandor <pudge@pobox.com>]

At 03.06 -0500 1999.01.29, Matthew Langford wrote:
>On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Richard Gordon wrote:

>I'd add in a few more qualifications.  Other users of the product have to
>be interested in and capable of changing the source.  For example, open
>source for software distributed to elementary schools does not seem
>viable, because the target audience could care less about computers, much
>less source code.  The only people interested in your source are
>competitors.  Similar arguments apply to most software targeted at
>non-computer-savvy audiences.

Open Source is not all about being able to change, or even look at, the
source.  It is about having free software, period.  Elementary schools
usually would have the MOST to gain from Open Source software, since they
have extremely limited budgets!  Now, maybe freeware alternatives to a
particular Open Source product exist (Mozilla vs. IE), but Open Source
assures that it will always be free.


>And if you aren't getting paid to write code, then you better be getting
>paid for the code you wrote.  Back to distributables, source code hidden.

Everyone can get paid to code.  There are more programming jobs than
programmers.  And the more you software you write and give away, the more
money you can make in those jobs.  :)


>I think there's a place for both.  And I think MacPerl would be more
>complete by supporting both.  (More complete in comparison to a MacPerl
>without a standalone-generating capability.)

I just don't see a need.  And further, I look at it this way.  Larry gave
us Perl, Matthias gave use MacPerl, others have contributed thousands upon
thousands of hours of their own unpaid time giving us free stuff that we
use to make a product to sell to people?  That just doesn't make logical
sense to me.

I am pretty sure Matthias does not feel as strongly about this as I do, and
Larry probably doesn't either, so please don't take it that I am saying
that they want you to distribute your stuff freely.  I don't think they do.
But imagine what it would be like if I charged you all for my modules and
programs and code snippets.  Either 1. someone else would have to duplicate
my efforts, 2. you'd have to pay, or 3. the MacPerl community would have to
do without.

I just feel strongly the following:

1.  You have been given, so give
2.  Your code (and my code) is not that valuable, interesting, and complex
that
    someone else cannot rewrite it
3.  If you do ask a fee, most people who would pay will pay regardless of how
    hidden the code is, because people who would pay are those who pay not
    because they have to but because they want to, and those that don't want
    to will pirate it if they can, which usually is not too hard

--
Chris Nandor          mailto:pudge@pobox.com         http://pudge.net/
%PGPKey = ('B76E72AD', [1024, '0824090B CE73CA10  1FF77F13 8180B6B6'])

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