EDITED FROM PREVIOUS MESSAGE: Amen *to Peter Rich’s comments below*
Also, I am a Marketing Projects Coordinator for a startup company and though we
are not a software company I certainly would not mind being involved with some
marketing of the Free, Legitimate version of the Skim software I know and love
(it got me through my Philosophy major at UCSD with its simple but effective
annotation features) and I greatly enjoy its TeX functionality. Don’t know how
the remote control bit works but this is no spot for that kind of question. I’m
sure - as our fearless leader Christiaan would say - 'it’s in the Wiki' ;)
-Jack
JackAReis [at] gmail [dot] com
>
> 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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