Re: [LI] Message from RMS.

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Dec 05, 1999 at 08:44:09AM +0530, Raj Mathur wrote:
> wealth in the world does not increase.  OTOH, when you share
> intangibles WHICH DO NOT COST YOU BY SHARING the total amount of
> wealth DOES increase while not reducing your personal wealth.

Software is very tangible. Just like the information in a book is.
Going by your philosophy, I should be allowed to photo copy all the
books in the world.

> Note the important points here:
> 
> 1.  My wife's gains are still hers.  If she gained 1 hour/day by using 
> the program exclusively, it does not get reduced to 0.0002 hour/day
> when 5000 people use the program.  See the difference between software 
> and money?

If you had in fact devised something that important, a lot of people
would've readily paid you money to save that precious one hour a day.

By giving it away for free, you've lost that money. It did decrease
your personal wealth - indirectly.

In practice however, if someone asks me the best way to get to M.G.
Road, I don't mind telling them.

> So please refrain from equating sharing of software, documents and
> information with philanthropy.  Philanthropy is when you give away
> something which lessens your personal wealth.

That is your definition of philanthropy. In my book, if a movie start
goes on stage and donates the money to charity, she has commited an
act of philanthropy through the loss of potential income.

> Sharing (and the spirit
> of the GNU) is when you give away something which still remains with
> you and also helps other people.

No doubt. But I can't be forced to share everything - especially if
it is related to my profession.

	-Arun