#Individual FF Disks
4 messages in this thread
Morality? I sometimes think it's downright immoral for people to be
handing out their work. I think it's quite immoral to encourage Amiga
programmers to hand out the fruits of their labor for free. A lot of the
supposed "hacker ethic" thinks that way, and I'm against it. Sure, people
should be free to give away their works if they want, but some people go
too far, and suggest that giving away your code, forever and regardless of
its development cost, is the cool way to go. I disagree. What's wrong
with selling PD software for any price? There's a sucker born… These
people have given up their rights to this stuff. What's an Amy Report?
"I sometimes think it's downright immoral for people to be handing out
their work."
Now this is an attitude held VERY strongly by a famous personality in the
computer community, and I've never had an opportunity to understand it.
Since I couldn't ask him, but I can ask you…
Whence comes this statement? Do you never help your neighbors, lend a hand
to anyone, perform a community service? What is the distinction between
these acts and "handing out [one's] work"? In each case you are giving
away time, effort, or physical property to someone or someone(s) else. In
a few of the cases it might be one-on-one, on others it is "to the wind".
Since I can't see the immorality of donating a weekend to the Muscular
Sclerosis Society, I can't see the immorality of donating a program (which
I was going to write for my use anyway, and which is not commercially
viable) to the world at large on the off chance that someone else finds it
useful. Given that your reasons for considering this immoral might not be
the same as the reasons of the person alluded to earlier, I'd like to hear
your rationale.
Note: this is not a razz session, I'm asking because I'd like to know.
Rick
Hmmm… thoughts stir…
Well, I woulkd say the decision would be based on WHAT it was that was
being given away. I doubt that proprietary algorithms/drivers/libraries
would, or even should, be given free rein. However, the clever hacks that
won't make it commercially are a different matter altogether.
If someone is fool enough to hand out source on something that took five
thousand manhours and mucho dinero to write, than all I can say is,
"Thanks! <sucker!>". Especially if the code was meant for a commercial
product, and would seriously damage the competiveness of the company.
However, those 'serious' programmers that release source are, IMHO, the
salt of the earth.
They are the educators to us tyros and probably have done more to advance
knowlege of the machine than any number of RKMs. I know I have spent many
hours going through code released into the PD/shareware world and gained
both a healthy respect for those that wrote it, and more raw information
than hours of poring over documentation in the RKMs. No one forced them to
do it, but every time I sit and write something and use some little tidbit
I've culled from that source, I say a silent prayer of thanks to the Author
of the original. The Amiga community gains much from their efforts, and
would be a dull place if the practice were to end.
I don't think Richard was referring to 'stealing some work for which
your are NOT completely responsible' and makeing it public. He was talking
about a single individuals work, although at the AmigaFriends club, we have
talked about putting some jointly produced programs in the public domain.