Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 07:12:26 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: Trevor Johnson <trevor@jpj.net> Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>, Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Stallman now claims authorship of Linux Message-ID: <15070.54826.847491.916792@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <20010419065023.A5664-100000@blues.jpj.net> References: <200104181725.KAA16700@usr02.primenet.com> <20010419065023.A5664-100000@blues.jpj.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > Are you saying that hiring someone to make changes to a GPL'd program > > would violate this second provision? > > No. He's saying that the intellectual property involved in a 40 > line change that results from 3 years of research should be able > to result in sufficient revenue to pay for that research. What kind of idiot would invest 3 years in research without some kind of plan as to how to pay for the research? The implication that the GPL prevents you from creating revenue from a change is false; it only closes out one class of revenue streams, the ones that require restricting distribution of the modified program. Other methods exist, including but not limited to selling the results of running the program (A), selling the ability to run the program (B), or simply saving staff time (C). A) I wrote a 3d gas flow modelling code for a petrochemical engineering firm. They charged people out the wazoo for plant failure analysis that incorporated the results of those gas flow models. The investment in the program was a *lot* smaller than the investment in a single set of physical experiments. B) I've wrotten programs that were installed on the clients web server and accessable only via paid subscription. Selling one year subscriptions is a lot better than selling copies - the customer has to cough up more cash at the end of the year if they want to keep using the program. C) I wrote a program for that same petrochemical company that estimated the probability of the ignition of the gas clouds generated by that 3d model. This reduced the staff time to generate those estimates from days to minutes, and the development cost was recovered in less than a year. -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?15070.54826.847491.916792>