On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 2:33 PM, Peter Rich <[email protected]> wrote:
> The reason that so many of us find this "developer's" behavior to be > despicable is that he clearly is trying to profit off of someone else's > hard-earned work without so much as a nod to those who did the work. Their > reason for making the software "free" is so that it can be the best software > possible (that's my guess, anyhow), and anyone who wants to contribute to > its progress may do so. When this developer can't be bothered to so much as > change the graphic, it communicates that the evolution of the product is not > what's on his mind. It then becomes incumbent upon us to warn anyone who > would purchase such software that the developer has behaved unscrupulously. > If I suspected a developer had done next to nothing with a product s/he is > selling, I would run away quickly, as I would doubt any concerns or support > needs would be met, should they arise in the future. > > I find Patrik's comments to be both enlightening and problematic. They are > enlightening because it highlights that there are a lot of enterprising > folks out there that don't believe there is a problem with such behavior if > the law allows it. Surprisingly, these people often make what many see as > "good" businessmen. This is problematic because it is exactly that attitude > that leads to the decline of civilization. Some believe their morals need > only go so far as what society deems to be ethical and puts into law. That > is a dangerous attitude because it suggest that we need to depend on > government to regulate all our rights and wrongs. Laws are clearly needed, > as people's beliefs about what is right/wrong are going to differ, and we > need a clear protocol for how to operate in and regulate society so people > know what to expect and how to interact with each other. But if we go no > further in our treatment of each other, society quickly degenerates into a > "me-first" society. Laws are only needed to regulate people who refuse to > regulate themselves. I tell this to my children all the time. If they > cannot control their temper toward each other, someone else will have to > control it for them—and that just introduces restrictions, the opposite of > freedom. > I agree with your philosophy completely, but I think you misunderstand the point of the BSD license. The BSD license is essentially a no-strings-attached gift (well, one very small string is attached). Not only that, it is a deliberate choice of a no-strings-attached gift, as opposed to most gifts we give and receive which are more nebulous in this way. Well, if I give you a no-strings-attached gift, and deliberately tell you so, then you are morally free to do with it whatever you want, including selling it for a profit. The unfortunate event here is that Christiaan (and possibly other contributors) apparently didn't really want to be giving a no-strings-attached gift, but "accidentally" did so. It may be a hard way to learn this lesson, but that's what happens in life sometimes. Mark A > > This is why I personally deplore this developer's actions. I am all for > people being paid for their hard work. The Skim developers could use a > good, business-minded PR-guy who can bring it to the fore. In my mind, > though, Someone else mindlessly ripping off their product does little to > benefit anyone but that developer. > > /soapbox > > -Peter- > > On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Patrik Jonsson > <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Christiaan Hofman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> > There's also a small matter of behavior. The fact that, strictly >> > speaking, you;re allowed to does not mean you should take advantage of >> > that. >> > There's no cost in asking, and he didn't. Not even in the most minimal and >> > legally required way. Quite frankly, this freeloading behavior I find the >> > most upsetting, and if we can punish him for that maximally for this by >> > removing it from the App Store I support that. >> >> With all due respect, I think you have an unrealistic view of >> humanity. To many people, "the fact that strictly speaking you are >> allowed to" means exactly that: you are allowed to, and expecting >> otherwise will just cause you to get upset. >> >> Moreover, apart from the fact that he's violating the terms of the >> license by not retaining the copyright, I really fail to see what this >> is about. The Skim license allows redistribution, commercial or not, >> and one of the fundamental rights given to users of free software is >> the right do do whatever they want with it, within the terms of he >> license, *without asking for permission*. >> >> If you look in chapter 8 of RMS's "free software, free society" >> (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/rms-essays.pdf) he says: >> >> "Many people believe that the spirit of the GNU project is that you >> should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that >> you should charge as little as possible—just enough to cover the cost. >> Actually, we encourage people who redistribute free software to charge >> as much as they wish or can. If this seems surprising to you, please >> read on. >> The word “free” has two legitimate general meanings; it can refer >> either to freedom or to price. When we speak of “free software,” we’re >> talking about freedom, not price. Specifically, it means that a user is >> free to run the program, change the program, and redistribute the >> program with or without changes." >> >> It seems to me that this is *exactly* what he's talking about. >> >> cheers, >> >> /Patrik >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! >> The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers >> is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, >> Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d >> _______________________________________________ >> Skim-app-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users > > > > > -- > Peter Rich, PhD > peter_rich [at] byu [dot] edu > Instructional Psychology & Technology > Brigham Young University > Provo, Ut 84602 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! > The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers > is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, > Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d > _______________________________________________ > Skim-app-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d _______________________________________________ Skim-app-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
