As a writer, it is hard for me to imagine a scenario where I would get paid
the same amount if I gave away my work. I guess my problem is that I
produce a product that doesn't really have to be serviced. I guess I would
give away my product, if it would lead to other paying jobs, but novelists
who spend several years on a book are really in some pickle, aren't they?
Cutting out the middleman would be really nice, though.
Lisa
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michelle Murrain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: [issues] Open Source as political?
> On Sunday 06 May 2001 06:27 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > I find myself sitting on both sides of the fence - I'm a programmer,
> > tech writer, and (in my copious spare time) a wannabe SF/Fantasy
> > author. (hey, where do you think I got the motivation to learn
> > writing skills!)
> >
> > As all of those, I want the writing/hacking with which I earn a
> > living to be .. well ... *MINE*.
> <snip>
> > ALSO as all of those, I want the writing/hacking which I give away
> > freely and willingly to be distributed freely and used widely.
> <snip>
> > I think this is no more contradictory than - say - an electrician
> > giving his time to wire up the local Girl Guide (Girl Scout in the
> > US) cabin. Or a carpenter designing and supervising the building of
> > an adventure playground at her childrens' school.
> <snip>
>
> I can definitely see that logic. But how about this scenario: a company
hires
> you to write some code for a specific project, pays you, then releases
that
> code as open-source software? What if a client paid you to do a particular
> job, and they didn't care what you did with the software. Would you keep
it,
> or release it as open-source?
>
> Also, I do want to distinguish between open-source sharing of software and
> piracy - I generally don't use pirated software, and 99% of the software I
> use is either bought or open-source/freeware (I also religiously pay for
> shareware - since I think it's also a good model).
>
> But back to the open-source issue in question: if you could get paid
anyway,
> *and* give away the software without it affecting your income, would you
do
> that?
>
> I guess part of this too is seeing writing software as as service*rather
than
> a product. I do a lot of coding for web applications, and get paid for
> implementing those applications on our clients web sites. At the same
time,
> I'm releasing that code as open-source, and in our contracts we specify
that
> that's the fate of all of the code we write for the client.
>
> I'm thinking that if the proprietary/closed-source paradigm wins out, we
get
> a world full of companies like microsoft, with few alternatives. I don't
like
> that scenario.
>
> Michelle
> --
> ------------
> Michelle Murrain, Ph.D.
> President
> Norwottuck Technology Resources
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.norwottuck.com
>
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