Amen.
-Jack
On Jan 24, 2012, at 12:33 PM, Peter Rich wrote:
> So, I've been a long-time Skim user and have experienced many ups and downs
> with the software, but I have to keep coming back to it as it has long been
> one of the best pdf annotation tools out there. Though I have found
> Christiaan's replies to often be somewhat put-offish, I have also found him
> to be an incredibly active developer and more than willing to respond to
> anyone's reply about the software. In light of the fact that he has done
> this for free, his dedication is commendable.
>
> 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.
>
> So, yes, Patrik, you are right; there are people who will take advantage of
> others. In my experience living in 4 different countries, though, I have
> seen entire societies that believe if you can take advantage of another and
> you don't, then you are a fool. Funny thing is, those are the societies that
> I never see progress. They end up in a constant cycle of corruption and the
> introduction of stricter laws and enforcement. Morality transcends laws and
> leads to greater freedom. Abuse of trust leads to more restrictions and
> slows progress.
>
> 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
>
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>
> --
> Peter Rich, PhD
> peter_rich [at] byu [dot] edu
> Instructional Psychology & Technology
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, Ut 84602
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