JM!
On 12/26/06, JM Ibanez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
"Dean Michael Berris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> On 12/22/06, manny <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> On Tue, 12 Dec 2006, Dean Michael Berris wrote:
>>
>> > Transparency can only be defined between two parties. It doesn't
>> > require that something be available to the public for it to be
>> > transparent
>>
>> Unless the transactions involve PUBLIC MONEY. You forgot that.
>>
>
> Not really... The government can buy generic drugs and not get the
> formula in the process: but the price and the terms are public
> information.
Actually, they can and usually do. Once a drug company patents their
formula (and that's the only way to get a generic label), then it's in
the public space -- with the caveat that the company patenting it will
have limited exclusive rights to the drug.
Hmmm... "The government can buy generic drugs and not get the formula
in the process" which means the procurement of the drug(s) does not
include the formula -- rather the fact that it is generic already
exposes the formula to scrutiny by the public. Having that said, it is
not a prerequisite that any drug's formula be public information for
that drug to be procured by government.
In the same sense, the software's source code need not be public
information (or licensed to the general public) for the government to
procure a copy or acquire a license to use the software. But with the
FOSS bill, it's what's being made to require.
This is precisely what I'm against, and I don't want to repeat the
points I've made before.
[snips very informative lecture on generic drugs]
Read up on generics, my friend. :)
I don't have to, you just gave me all the reading I'd ever require on
the matter. :D
--
Dean Michael C. Berris
http://cplusplus-soup.blogspot.com/
mikhailberis AT gmail DOT com
+63 928 7291459
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