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Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 02:34:30 -0500
From: Mark Mielke <mark@mark.mielke.cc>
To: Werner Almesberger <wa@almesberger.net>
Cc: "Shane R. Stixrud" <shane@stixrud.org>, Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com>,
       Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>, billh@gnuppy.monkey.org, paul@clubi.ie,
       riel@conectiva.com.br, Hell.Surfers@cwctv.net,
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Why is Nvidia given GPL'd code to use in non-free drivers?
Message-ID: <20030104073430.GA7518@mark.mielke.cc>
References: <20030103212631.GD24896@work.bitmover.com> <Pine.LNX.4.44.0301031511090.10226-100000@master.geeklords.org> <20030104030007.C1406@almesberger.net>
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On Sat, Jan 04, 2003 at 03:00:07AM -0300, Werner Almesberger wrote:
> Shane R. Stixrud wrote:
> > I see a possible future where software development is seen much like
> > getting your roof repaired, or adding a new room on to your house.
> > It's labor+materials.
> Exactly. Whenever somebody figures out a way to make some work
> process more efficient, invariably a group of people will predict
> imminent doom if this model catches on, and they will have plenty
> of compelling reasons why the old way is vastly superior.

If only it were that simple. Instead, the roof repair man repairs one
house, the fix is propagated to all other houses via the Internet, the
roof repair man puts *himself* out of a job, and the only people that
make money are the Internet service providers. The roof repair man
starves to death and finally ends up on (un)employment insurance.

Continually comparing software development to traditional forms of
labour is misleading and evidence that the issue is *not* being
properly understood. A closer comparison would be to compare the design
of software to the design of a building. But then - architects don't
give their blueprints away for free - that would be suicidal...

mark

-- 
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                           http://mark.mielke.cc/

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