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The GPL proclaims its user-centric purpose right up front, and everything in it is about what developers must provide to users and permit them to do. Stallman i

The GPL proclaims its user-centric purpose right up front, and everything in it is about what developers must provide to users and permit them to do. Stallman is on record about freedom being much more important to him than making us or himself rich. I don't know why you'd bother to accuse them of ironically failing to achieve a goal they're clearly indifferent about. Every time society attaches a price tag to an unlimited resource like copies of software, we make ourselves poorer overall by minimizing our benefit from wealth that can't be used up or worn out. In my ideal world, software is developed as work for hire, because it's actually skilled labor that's scarce and needs to be rationed out by the economy. Doctors don't sell medicine, plumbers don't sell pipe, why should developers sell copies of binaries rather than hours of work?

quadhome 16y ago
> Doctors don't sell medicine, plumbers don't sell pipe, why should developers sell copies of binaries rather than hours of work? Because selling copies is far more scalable and profitable?
- rbanffy 16y ago
  I think the question is why users put up with having software that doesn't suit their needs and that they can't fix themselves of hire someone to fix it (like they would do with a bad plumber). It's simply because they don't know they have an option. The GPL proposes to give users that right. Since I am in that uncomfortable user position a lot, I am all for it.
  - Stormbringer 16y ago
    Users don't fix software, developers do.
    - prodigal_erik 16y ago
      The question then becomes, can a user hire any developer for a fix, rather than being at the mercy of the original vendor? This right not only keeps hourly rates more reasonable, but also takes away the vendor's incentive to use bad designs that lead to customer lock-in. For a perhaps overused metaphor, I wouldn't buy a car with the hood welded shut.

quadhome 16y ago

> Doctors don't sell medicine, plumbers don't sell pipe, why should developers sell copies of binaries rather than hours of work? Because selling copies is far more scalable and profitable?

rbanffy 16y ago
I think the question is why users put up with having software that doesn't suit their needs and that they can't fix themselves of hire someone to fix it (like they would do with a bad plumber). It's simply because they don't know they have an option. The GPL proposes to give users that right. Since I am in that uncomfortable user position a lot, I am all for it.
- Stormbringer 16y ago
  Users don't fix software, developers do.
  - prodigal_erik 16y ago
    The question then becomes, can a user hire any developer for a fix, rather than being at the mercy of the original vendor? This right not only keeps hourly rates more reasonable, but also takes away the vendor's incentive to use bad designs that lead to customer lock-in. For a perhaps overused metaphor, I wouldn't buy a car with the hood welded shut.