Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 00:21:19 -0500 (EST) From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@rush.net> To: Jason Garman <garman@earthling.net> Cc: John Baldwin <jobaldwi@vt.edu>, Chris Costello <chris@calldei.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, kuehl@lgk.de, "G. Adam Stanislav" <adam@whizkidtech.net>, cjclark@home.com, Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Subject: Re: Richard Stallman came to town Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990514222006.26546j-100000@cygnus.rush.net> In-Reply-To: <19990514221109.F13575@fw.garman.net>
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On Fri, 14 May 1999, Jason Garman wrote: > On Fri, May 14, 1999 at 09:08:01AM -0400, John Baldwin wrote: > > > > And you are confusing practical with technically possible. If one customer > > takes your source and puts it up an ftp server and announces it to the world, > > then you just lost a very good portion of your sales. > > > ... and this is somehow different from someone posting binaries on an ftp > server and announcing it to the world? why does source suddenly make this > so much more of a threat? if nothing more, the binaries would be more of > a threat because they usually have a flashy installer utility and such > included, while the straight source release probably won't. Sometimes trade secrets are important, especially when they put you ahead of the competition. I've coded a library that extracted a person's information from an unforamatted document containing that information. If someone pirated a binary of this library it would stink, but could be prosecuted. If the source was somehow put out, the chances of the company keeping that 'edge' would be lost. It _is_ a technical advantage, a propriatary algorithm. There is a difference. I don't agree that everything should be open source, but I do belive that after a certain period it is only decent to offer a source license. Companies that require NDAs to get hardware specs are hereby banished to the wasteland. -Alfred To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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