Re: [Ogf-l] "Shared-Source"

[Margaret Vining]

<<<<<----- Original Message ----- From: John Nephew What next -- make volunteer labor illegal (because it competes with paid labor), ban hobbies in areas where people compete for-profit (sorry, you can't publish your fiction on your personal web page without charge, because that competes unfairly with companies who publish fiction magazines) or require certain minimum profit margins (because "for-profit" companies willing to accept lower profits compete with those looking to maximize profit)?>>> I suppose you are trying to say that my assertion is just as absurd as your examples.  Maybe it is.  OTOH, the government already has checks in place in each of the scenarios you just mentioned: minimum wage, copyright law, and monopoly prevention.  The open movement is new.  History might see it as just as cruel a concept as child labor.  I think we owe it to ourselves to wonder if our roles in the open gaming movement are ethical.  Sometimes that means we have to look through the eyes of entities we have little faith in or respect for.  >>>>And I don't want any government agency telling me what I have to charge or how I have to spend my money in order to meet some target of acceptable pro forma profits or whatever.  I have a right to drive myself out of business by running my company poorly, if I so choose, or to make out like a bandit if I can run it well.  And if I'm making out like a bandit (like, say, the way Microsoft does), it sure seems tasteless for me to whine that I'm undercut by competition that isn't trying to sock away double-digit net profits the way I am.>>>>> I have no idea why you are taking this in this particular direction.  I did not suggest that the government should control prices.  I suggested that they might need to redefine some of their business regulations in open communities.  In this open community, hobbiests are able compete with RPG companies on equal ground with a lot less effort than before.  Yes, we all agree that they might not be able to successfully compete because of the will of the market, but in an open community the cards are stacked against companies who have to pay taxes on their product.  Fans who make free d20 products and distribute them for free on a web page do not have to pay taxes on the final product.  They also do not have to pay for materials and they do not have to pay for the labor.  Yet, they are on the same playing field as the RPG companies who do.  In reality, I think everyone believes that the market will not be effected by fan work so they ignore it.  But if we look at the software model it should be obvious that that would be a mistake. <<<<In any case--I have not been following this thread too closely, but it sure seems to be veering far off topic.>>> In my mind, my points are relevant to the RPG industry and have everything to do with Microsoft's attempt to initiate "shared-source".  Shared-source tells me that Microsoft is in trouble and if I were an RPG company I would want to 1) figure out if they are and 2) figure out what I have to do to make sure I am not in their shoes 20 years from now. Maggie Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com