Richard Stallman wrote:
>
> Developing programs does not "cost money"--that is just one way to do
> it. But sometimes a person is in a position where he can develop a
> certain program only if he makes it non-free to raise money. If you
> are in such a position, unless you are going to make the program free
> software soon after, then the best thing you can do is not develop it
> at all. Someone else will develop a free program to do the job.
> Freedom is worth the wait.
>
Richard; this lovely view of life works great for (and not meaning to
belittle anybody's work here) small/self contained/trivial projects,
characterised by unix tools/apps which can be managed by one or a few
people in a reasonable timescale. I mean grep, sed, bison, dhcpd,
sendmail etc
But what about bigger projects? As stated previously, I develop computer
games. It takes 30+ people 2-3years continous effort and $3M - 10$M in
cash to produce.
This just isn't viable, under your model. A group of part time hobbyists
just aren't gonna complete a (non trivial) game in their lifetimes.
You say "the best thing you can do is not develop it at all. Someone
else will develop a free program to do the job."
I sincerely doubt it.
Sorry staff. Richard says you are all out of a job.
Richard; this lovely view of life works great for (and not meaning to
belittle anybody's work here) small/self contained/trivial projects,
characterised by unix tools/apps which can be managed by one or a few
people in a reasonable timescale. I mean grep, sed, bison, dhcpd,
sendmail etc
The GNU/Linux system is pretty large. For that matter, GCC and Linux
are pretty large. So I think you're simply underestimating what we
can do ethically, as an excuse for doing it the usual grabbing way.
But what about bigger projects? As stated previously, I develop computer
games. It takes 30+ people 2-3years continous effort and $3M - 10$M in
cash to produce.
I see no social need to be in such a hurry about it. I'd rather it were
done more slowly and produced results that coexist with our freedom.
Meanwhile, people have already pointed out that there are ways to
raise money for some kinds of free software projects. From what I
hear about game product cycles, you might be able to make the game
free after a year without losing much in sales.
But if that doesn't work for you, I would not consider it a great loss
for the world if your products were not produced. They contribute
something to the world if they are free software, but otherwise not.
On Mon, Jan 06, 2003 at 03:50:06PM -0500, Richard Stallman wrote:
> But if that doesn't work for you, I would not consider it a great loss
> for the world if your products were not produced. They contribute
> something to the world if they are free software, but otherwise not.
In three lines, you have successfully summarized the exact position
that some of us find unacceptable, or unrealistic in the world that we
currently live in. This position is the position that I find to be
incompatible with my belief system, and describes the exact conflict
that we will not be able to resolve any time soon.
With this, I breath my last word in this thread.
Cheers!
mark
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