Material goods or not, the Coca-Cola formula is protected by copyright so
they can protect their company. If Coca-Cola followed the FSF mentality of
having it being totally free and open, their business model would be totally
screwed because they would be giving away EVERYTHING about how it is made to
the last possible detail.
Trust me, I know the copyright systems need to be revised but the reality is
that it will not happen. Heck, when I started getting into programming for
the web, I would have loved to have the details of SEO revealed to me. The
reality is that the methods aren't fully revealed by Google and the companies
that do SEO do not give back to anyone. I thought the concept of the web was
to have everything open and to grow, but somehow SEO got a pass and the
owners of said companies drive fancy cars and are rich.
Maybe the SEO thing is a bad analogy because there is a lot of money at stake
with search engine results. Maybe the culture dictates the method and
mentality much like how the culture of the FSF dictates the method and
mentality. Either way there is a boss involved wanting its subordinates to
follow that mentality whether it is your project manager boss or Richard
Stallman. You also said you were a liberal so your viewpoints may be a
little bit skewed towards your political party. The party that wants everyone
to work for the government and for private businesses to be suppressed.
