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>From my POV, charging money for copies of software is regressive and foolish. Curious if you have any literature expounding on this idea; it's hard for me to

>From my POV, charging money for copies of software is regressive and foolish. Curious if you have any literature expounding on this idea; it's hard for me to wrap my head around. Is the idea to use software as a tool to provide the product, not as the product itself?

carapace 7y ago
I have a few moldy old blog posts but nothing worth linking to, sorry. I should probably take the time to write up a proper screed. Meanwhile, I'll try to explain where I'm coming from. Briefly, it makes sense to me to get paid to write software to solve some new problem; but once it has been written, I feel it would be venal (at this time in history) to refuse other people the use of it unless they give me a set amount of money. It costs me nothing and adds value to their lives, presumably, so why wouldn't I let them copy and use it for free? (It also makes sense to me to pay for support if I need it, and not to use software I can't repair myself if support is unavailable.) In more detail, I see automation as having its highest goal in the transformation of civilization to a better mode. Technology doesn't solve the human condition, but it does alter the set of daily problems with which we must cope. Bucky calculated that we would be able to work for two years and then retire having paid for our living expenses for the rest of our lives in those two years, and this by sometime in the 1970's. The catch is that we have to align our technology with our needs efficiently. He said: > Think of it. We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all to feed everybody, clothe everybody, and give every human on Earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before - that we now have the option for all humanity to make it successfully on this planet in this lifetime. In this scenario your problem is what to do with your free time, not how to get paid for writing/maintaining software, eh? Restrictions on copying bit-patterns create an artificial scarcity and delay the arrival of this techno-secular Golden Age. That's why I call it regressive. It is foolish to predicate your business-model on prevention of copying of data (software or media) because then you set up an open-ended source of additional overhead (cost of DRM) and bullshit (DRM).

carapace 7y ago

I have a few moldy old blog posts but nothing worth linking to, sorry. I should probably take the time to write up a proper screed. Meanwhile, I'll try to explain where I'm coming from. Briefly, it makes sense to me to get paid to write software to solve some new problem; but once it has been written, I feel it would be venal (at this time in history) to refuse other people the use of it unless they give me a set amount of money. It costs me nothing and adds value to their lives, presumably, so why wouldn't I let them copy and use it for free? (It also makes sense to me to pay for support if I need it, and not to use software I can't repair myself if support is unavailable.) In more detail, I see automation as having its highest goal in the transformation of civilization to a better mode. Technology doesn't solve the human condition, but it does alter the set of daily problems with which we must cope. Bucky calculated that we would be able to work for two years and then retire having paid for our living expenses for the rest of our lives in those two years, and this by sometime in the 1970's. The catch is that we have to align our technology with our needs efficiently. He said: > Think of it. We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all to feed everybody, clothe everybody, and give every human on Earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before - that we now have the option for all humanity to make it successfully on this planet in this lifetime. In this scenario your problem is what to do with your free time, not how to get paid for writing/maintaining software, eh? Restrictions on copying bit-patterns create an artificial scarcity and delay the arrival of this techno-secular Golden Age. That's why I call it regressive. It is foolish to predicate your business-model on prevention of copying of data (software or media) because then you set up an open-ended source of additional overhead (cost of DRM) and bullshit (DRM).