Re: [LI] Message from RMS.

[Raj Mathur <raju@xxxxxxx>]

>>>>> "Arun" == Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

    Arun> 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.

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

Exactly, you got it now!

    >> 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?

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

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

Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  I still have options to make money out of that
software, by customising it, by extending it and by supporting it for
a fee.  Or by enhancing my reputation in the world to such an extent
that people are willing to pay me phenomenal amounts of money to hire
me, commission me for projects or have me on their podium for talks
:-) That also is wealth, and in the free software world (i.e. the
emerging world) a person's reputation will be his/her most important
asset.

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

So why don't you charge them money for it?

    >> 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.

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

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

That is your prerogative.  Of course, if you don't share, please refer 
to my first post to get your definition ;-)

-- Raju