5 ms·

> and don't want script kiddies to mooch off my talent that easily. We all "mooch" off of other's talents. That's the beauty of our industry. We get inspired,

by dkopi 10y ago

> and don't want script kiddies to mooch off my talent that easily. We all "mooch" off of other's talents. That's the beauty of our industry. We get inspired, we share, and we base our works on the works of others. That's why its so important to pair huge investments in R&D with awesome business people. Don't obsess about protecting your inventions. Obsess about getting your inventions out there, selling, supporting, and custom tailoring it for what customers really need.

abpavel 10y ago
> Obsess about getting your inventions out there That's what I want to do, but all of the legal advice I got was to do otherwise. At first I thought that losing all that you've built in an instance was a rare event, but the more I talked to business owners and lawyers, I haven't gotten a single advise to release it in any way that would put it outside of my control. And the thing they cited is almost exactly of what OP describes: once someone else has your code, the whole world has it. And it hurts that I careless about the code - it can be rewritten in a million ways. What I care about is what code does, and the multitude of GloboCorps working on the same issue in vane, and their ability to reproduce our work in months once they understand the secret sauce.
- dkopi 10y ago
  If that's the case, you might want to release your code as an online service. Also - keep in mind that "Legal advice" isn't necessarily "Business advice". Lawyers can't tell you how to make money, or how to build a business that survives even when people compete with you. They'll tell you how to try to prevent competition, or protect IP, but they won't tell you how to be a market leader. As for BigCorp copying your inventions - that can obviously happen. But it's also very likely that if you can solve a problem that BigCorp is failing at, they'll simply give you an M&A offer.
- chii 10y ago
  > their ability to reproduce our work in months once they understand the secret sauce. if the secret sause is so simple that they can copy it in months without violating copyright laws, may be it's not so saucy after all! Data, whether code, or algorithm, is not physical, and therefore, unless you don't give the code out (e.g., sell via SaaS), it's gone as soon as you release it, obfuscated or not.

by dkopi 10y ago

abpavel 10y ago

> Obsess about getting your inventions out there That's what I want to do, but all of the legal advice I got was to do otherwise. At first I thought that losing all that you've built in an instance was a rare event, but the more I talked to business owners and lawyers, I haven't gotten a single advise to release it in any way that would put it outside of my control. And the thing they cited is almost exactly of what OP describes: once someone else has your code, the whole world has it. And it hurts that I careless about the code - it can be rewritten in a million ways. What I care about is what code does, and the multitude of GloboCorps working on the same issue in vane, and their ability to reproduce our work in months once they understand the secret sauce.

dkopi 10y ago
If that's the case, you might want to release your code as an online service. Also - keep in mind that "Legal advice" isn't necessarily "Business advice". Lawyers can't tell you how to make money, or how to build a business that survives even when people compete with you. They'll tell you how to try to prevent competition, or protect IP, but they won't tell you how to be a market leader. As for BigCorp copying your inventions - that can obviously happen. But it's also very likely that if you can solve a problem that BigCorp is failing at, they'll simply give you an M&A offer.
chii 10y ago
> their ability to reproduce our work in months once they understand the secret sauce. if the secret sause is so simple that they can copy it in months without violating copyright laws, may be it's not so saucy after all! Data, whether code, or algorithm, is not physical, and therefore, unless you don't give the code out (e.g., sell via SaaS), it's gone as soon as you release it, obfuscated or not.