Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Let's suppose you write a network administration tool in C or Java. Legally, that's protected by exactly the same laws that protect books. You have the right to sell it, and to require that anyone who uses it pays you for it. Would you argue for that right to be taken away from you? Do you see a fundamental difference between writing computer software and writing books? I'd argue that both are creative activities, myself, having done both.
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Actually, my company probably gains the rights to whatever content I produce during work hours (there's that whole content producer/content owner thing again!). That aside, I am still really uncertain on the whole concept of charging people for strings of bits that operate on other bits. And finally, in my free time I am very much into open-source and free (as in beer) software. I've taken from it, I've modified it, I've contributed to it.
But I appreciate what you are trying to say, I just doubt my C program will become an ubiquitous part of common culture much as Shakespeare's works have become - and I doubt that any single program ever will.