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I mean, if we treat them like giants, fine. But this is more like a giant wearing a $1,500 suit standing on the shoulders of a normal-sized dude. Still, I'm a
by rdiddly 8y ago
I mean, if we treat them like giants, fine. But this is more like a giant wearing a $1,500 suit standing on the shoulders of a normal-sized dude. Still, I'm all for it if everybody goes into it with the expectation of sharing, i.e. some permutation of an open source and/or free software philosophy or license, like 3/4 of your examples are based on. But if one for-profit company copies from another, it's not hard to see there's an underhanded element to it; somebody can't compete on the merits but wants to be paid anyway. I know I know, "it's just business."
- wvenable 8y agoI don't see why it should fair a single-developer to copy an idea from a company but not the other way around. What does size have to do with it? And remember, we're still not talking about copying code or violating patents -- we're just talking copying a simple idea. Something that still requires work to implement. Copying ideas is the foundation of every industry. Is it immoral of you to build a better or cheaper car because Henry Ford got there first? Airplanes? Windowing systems? Command-line shells? Bicycles? This is frankly just BS. You cannot hold ownership over an idea -- it's just not possible. And when you release your idea from your brain into the world, other people will learn it. You can't force them to not use your idea for themselves because you thought of it first.