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Originally Posted by Namekuseijin
I think I've already made my point that software is utilitarian work created out of mechanic accretion of many people inputs, not useless art created by selective creative input mainly from a single person's vision.
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Clearly, you're not a programmer. I can think of nothing more creative than writing software. And while there's lots of software that was driven by one person's vision, I don't see any reason why "art" has to be a solo thing anyways. That seems like a bit of a red herring to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Namekuseijin
Most open-source developers have other jobs and surely wouldn't be working on something if it wasn't: 1) useful for many people; 2) all the development maintenance fell onto his shoulders alone, rather than on an army of other equally benefited developers... it works because it's not creative work and it's useful to everyone. None of it is true to art.
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That's a joke, right? Lots of art is "useful" to many people, even if only to derive enjoyment for a period of time. I'm not sure that art require maintenance, so I'm not sure how that's relevant here. And, of course, software is the most creative work in the universe.
And who's to say that all artists need to be full time artists? Surely some of those freeware programs floating around on the net took just as much time and effort to create as a novel, and they were done in the authors' free time.
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Originally Posted by Namekuseijin
Go ask a virtuoso pianist who's been training all day long ever since he was 5 to master his art if he's willing to give performances for free to a bunch of whining crackheads. Will they give him shelter or food? How can someone expect to commit to that kind of excellence in a given art if you're supposed to do it for free for everyone's else enjoyment?
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Of course, live performances, which are where most musicians make their bread and butter (especially virtuoso pianists), aren't really part of this discussion. Do crackheads listen to virtuoso pianists?
Anyways, the thought that anyone actually practices all day long at the age of 5 because they expect to make a fortune selling CD's a couple of decades later is generally laughable.
All that being said, although I'm no virtuoso, I'd happily plug in an electric guitar and play with a band for free in a bar. Then my friends who actually need the income from doing the same would get pissed off at me for depressing the market for paid live musicians. My point though, is that there are plenty of people like me, who would do it, and would do it well too.