4 ms·

"Oh, I have this great idea that I would love to implement. Nah, if I don't get a copying monopoly on that for years to come, I will not think about it anymore

• jwatte 15y ago
  The problem is that solid products do not come from one guy who works on one idea for a while. It comes from large teams that do all kinds of boring work to make the product solid. As an example, for most users, using Linux on the desktop is a lot more painful than using Windows on the desktop, because Microsoft has to pay a lot of people to do boring work that makes Windows less painful to the user. Linux only gains the features that someone feels it is rewarding to work on. If we don't have copyright, then we have no way of rewarding dull work that only makes economic sense when replicated across millions. Think of the garbage truck: it's dull and smelly work, and you have to get up in the middle of the night. Almost nobody would do that if they didn't get paid. Yet society needs that work done -- yet we figure out how to compensate that work so it gets done. Perhaps we can come up with a better way to compensate this kind of development work, but your argument does not provide a credible alternative.
  • michaelchisari 15y ago
    Think of the garbage truck: it's dull and smelly work, and you have to get up in the middle of the night. And yet, we don't offer garbage men royalties on the garbage they've collected for 70 years after their death.