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"Isn't that fair though? Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free." No. When I read this I think of Bruce Perens and BusyBox. [0] BusyBox

"Isn't that fair though? Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free." No. When I read this I think of Bruce Perens and BusyBox. [0] BusyBox, created by Perens as a floppy rescue/boot/installer disk for Debian, written as a single binary. [1],[2] Real handy if your partition failed or you needed to install an OS or update. This didn't stop unscrupulous companies installing BusyBox charging for it and violating the GPL licensing agreements. [3] At no time did these companies chip in to help in the development of BB. Yet they wanted (needed) the inclusion of this useful software. This is HN, a place where smart people hang out at the intersection of technology and commerce. I posted the article as an experiment to see what possible commercial possibilities could be imagined. SVG is too important to the web to let it whither and die. There must be some other way to continue this kind of work sustainably. What else can you think up? Reference [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox [1] https://busybox.net/about.html https://busybox.net/about.html [2] https://busybox.net/oldnews.html https://busybox.net/oldnews.html [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox#GPL_lawsuits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox#GPL_lawsuits

jdminhbg 9y ago
This doesn't seem like a failure to dream up a way to compensate software authors, this seems like simple copyright infringement/theft.
greggman 9y ago
I don't see what this has to do with the argument that "Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free." You can argue the point 2 ways 1. Bruce Perens did BusyBox for fun and gave it away for free. After words some people were bad and got sued. So what does his making it for fun and free have to do with after words people got sued 2. Bruce Perens did Busybox and fun and gave it away not for free. His price is that if you it in a product (or portions of it, details don't matter to the point) that product (or portions of it) must also be GPLed. If you take this interpretation then we're back to the same thing, what does this story have to do with "Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free."
- bootload 9y ago
  "I don't see what this has to do with the argument ... If you take this interpretation then we're back to the same thing, what does this story ..." Complains a lot.
- Freak_NL 9y ago
  > After words […] Do you mean 'afterwards' or 'after an altercation took place'?
  - jeron 9y ago
    I think he meant the former.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- vertex-four 9y ago
  > If you take this interpretation then we're back to the same thing, what does this story have to do with "Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free." Why should writers be relegated to only ever being allowed to "do it for fun" while programmers are not?
  - Latty 9y ago
    I mean, that depends on what you are writing and programming. If I want someone to pay me for programming, I have to write something they want. The same is true for writers. The point the original post was making is that if not enough people want what you are writing (code or text), you can do it for fun and give it away free. You can't expect to get paid for doing something you love. It's amazing if you can, and I'm incredibly lucky that I do, but it's not something I expect. Hopefully in the future with enough automation people can just do things for fun, and all the jobs we need can be automated. We aren't there yet - but most people can work a job and have time for hobbies in modern developed countries. Now, arguably, there is a lot of value in this work and we should be supporting it. That may be true, but that is a separate problem. The solution to this may be getting enough people to take note and care, and this post might be a start on that.

jdminhbg 9y ago

This doesn't seem like a failure to dream up a way to compensate software authors, this seems like simple copyright infringement/theft.

greggman 9y ago

I don't see what this has to do with the argument that "Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free." You can argue the point 2 ways 1. Bruce Perens did BusyBox for fun and gave it away for free. After words some people were bad and got sued. So what does his making it for fun and free have to do with after words people got sued 2. Bruce Perens did Busybox and fun and gave it away not for free. His price is that if you it in a product (or portions of it, details don't matter to the point) that product (or portions of it) must also be GPLed. If you take this interpretation then we're back to the same thing, what does this story have to do with "Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free."

bootload 9y ago
"I don't see what this has to do with the argument ... If you take this interpretation then we're back to the same thing, what does this story ..." Complains a lot.
Freak_NL 9y ago
> After words […] Do you mean 'afterwards' or 'after an altercation took place'?
- jeron 9y ago
  I think he meant the former.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
vertex-four 9y ago
> If you take this interpretation then we're back to the same thing, what does this story have to do with "Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free." Why should writers be relegated to only ever being allowed to "do it for fun" while programmers are not?
- Latty 9y ago
  I mean, that depends on what you are writing and programming. If I want someone to pay me for programming, I have to write something they want. The same is true for writers. The point the original post was making is that if not enough people want what you are writing (code or text), you can do it for fun and give it away free. You can't expect to get paid for doing something you love. It's amazing if you can, and I'm incredibly lucky that I do, but it's not something I expect. Hopefully in the future with enough automation people can just do things for fun, and all the jobs we need can be automated. We aren't there yet - but most people can work a job and have time for hobbies in modern developed countries. Now, arguably, there is a lot of value in this work and we should be supporting it. That may be true, but that is a separate problem. The solution to this may be getting enough people to take note and care, and this post might be a start on that.