[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > [...] > > If you want to "charge" for something perhaps "dollars" or "euros" > > or similar items could be required. > > You don't understand the GNU "philosophy", mike4ty4. > > Read the GNU Manifesto. > > ----- > "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?" > > Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary > incentive. Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, > usually the people who are best at it. There is no shortage of > professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of > making a living that way. > > But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to > the situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become > less. So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced > monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will. > > For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at > the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have > had anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: fame > and appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a reward in > itself. > > Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting > work for a lot of money. > > What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than > riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will > come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly in > competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly if > the high-paying ones are banned. > > [...] > > "Programmers need to make a living somehow." > > In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways that > programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a > program. This way is customary now because it brings programmers and > businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a > living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here > are a number of examples. > > A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of > operating systems onto the new hardware. > > The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could also > employ programmers. > > People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware(7), asking > for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. I > have met people who are already working this way successfully. > > Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A group > would contract with programming companies to write programs that the > group's members would like to use. > > All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax: > > Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the price > as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency like the NSF > to spend on software development. > > But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development > himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to the > project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to use the > results when it is done. He can take a credit for any amount of > donation up to the total tax he had to pay. > > The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the tax, > weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on. > > The consequences: > > The computer-using community supports software development. > This community decides what level of support is needed. > > Users who care which projects their share is spent on can choose this > for themselves. > > In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the > post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to > make a living. People will be free to devote themselves to activities > that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten > hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, > robot repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able > to make a living from programming. > ----- > > So think GPL long run: communism will win in the end. No-scarcity, > girls for free, and all that. > > http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/dcm.html > (The dotCommunist Manifesto) > > regards, > alexander.
So are you saying that it's bad to make a living from programming?! That I won't be able to if I use "free" software for it?! _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
