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posted by martyb on Thursday January 18 2018, @02:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the waiting-for-the-multiverse-donor dept.

Over at the Meshed Insights blog, Simon Phipps writes about why the public domain falls short and more detailed licensing is needed in order to extend rights to a software community.

Yes, public domain may give you the rights you need. But in an open source project, it's not enough for you to determine you personally have the rights you need. In order to function, every user and contributor of the project needs prior confidence they can use, improve and share the code, regardless of their location or the use to which they put it. That confidence also has to extend to their colleagues, customers and community as well.

Source : The Universal Donor


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  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:06PM (33 children)

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:06PM (#624181) Journal
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:15PM (20 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:15PM (#624183)

    Man oh man I can't wait until we're all living in the post scarcity GNU Utopia where we all code free software for fun after working full time jobs of ten hours a week at asteroid prospecting and robot repair.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:01PM (13 children)

      by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:01PM (#624207) Journal

      It's coming soon! Using FOSS allows us all the benefit of being able to stand on the shoulders of giants. Here in the UK, we're about to undergo a revolution in agricultural automation to make up for the shortage of farm labourers. All that good food will get cheaper.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:11PM (12 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:11PM (#624218)

        Cheap food, that's just brilliant. I want to live in council housing on benefits while I watch Doctor Who and code FOSS all night!!

        • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:22PM (11 children)

          by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:22PM (#624224) Journal

          Get used to it. There won't be many jobs for humans soon. We're going to have to think of something else to do with our time.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:34PM (9 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:34PM (#624235)

            I can think of plenty of things to do with my time. Trouble is I can't maintain my lifestyle of the living without food and shelter. Coding doesn't pay the bills because the market value of open source is zero. Thank Stallman for starting the race to the bottom which will make all coders destitute.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:39PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:39PM (#624238)

              so a wage-slave retarded libertarian. enjoy swimming in your own ignorance

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:46PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:46PM (#624244)

                You couldn't be more wrong. I'm can't be a wage-slave since I'm unemployed, and I vote Green.

            • (Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:36PM (6 children)

              by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:36PM (#624315) Journal

              Funny that, I've been making a good living coding on FOSS platforms for over fifteen years now. End user applications are not where the money is. You have to think shoulders of giants.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:02PM (5 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:02PM (#624333)

                Funny, my personal experience is exactly the opposite.

                I've spent my career earning jack shit for making backend networking code that lets people communicate with each other. They never communicate with me, though. I'm nobody.

                Software behind the scenes that nobody knows or cares about isn't valuable enough to pay for. It's just not visible enough.

                I've been making a good living coding on FOSS platforms for over fifteen years now.

                Interesting choice of words, "coding on FOSS platforms." How much of your actual code is open source, dear person who pretends to code open source for pay?

                • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:53PM (3 children)

                  by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:53PM (#624379) Journal

                  Interesting choice of words, "coding on FOSS platforms." How much of your actual code is open source, dear person who pretends to code open source for pay?

                  I never pretended to code open source for pay, although I did work for $LARGEUNIXCO many years ago integrating FOSS into the OS (and I have 3 lines of code in the kernel, which was open sourced...)

                  In my spare time I dabble and have put one or two silly little things on the Intertubes, mostly for comedy value.

                  However, I have invested time and energy helping newbies get up to speed with Linux (privately and in a corporate setting) so I'm not a complete and utter leach on "the Community." And I have a Slackware subscription.

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @09:04PM (2 children)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @09:04PM (#624393)

                    Spoken like a leech.

                    Vote Tory to keep your ill-gotten money.

                • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @09:02PM

                  by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @09:02PM (#624390) Journal

                  Software behind the scenes that nobody knows or cares about isn't valuable enough to pay for. It's just not visible enough.

                  Oh yes it is. One particular thing I worked on is on at least 500 000 devices. That was years ago. I bet it's twice that now.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @01:17AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @01:17AM (#624997)

            Starve?

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by JNCF on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:52PM (4 children)

      by JNCF (4317) on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:52PM (#624291) Journal

      GNU Utopia GNUtopia

      FTFY

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:33PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:33PM (#624313)

        GNU's Not Utopia

        You're right. It's a dystopian plot designed to make everyone as poor as RMS.

        • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:54PM (2 children)

          by JNCF (4317) on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:54PM (#624327) Journal

          It's a brave GNU world.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:09PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:09PM (#624339)

            The GNU lifestyle is great if you like living like a bum and being treated like shit. But let's be real. Open source doesn't pay a dime. You can write as much code as you like but there's no money to be made by coding.

            • (Score: 4, Insightful) by JNCF on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:30PM

              by JNCF (4317) on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:30PM (#624357) Journal

              I've heard Harry Potter Lennart Poettering can transmute unnecessary complexity into user support contracts.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday January 19 2018, @12:25AM

      by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday January 19 2018, @12:25AM (#624490)

      ...where we all code free software for fun after working full time jobs...

      I don't think you understand how enlightened self interest [wikipedia.org] works.

      --
      It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
  • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:21PM (11 children)

    by meustrus (4961) on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:21PM (#624186)

    When you make the State stronger to enforce collectivism, you have simply transferred power from one group of capitalists to another, and Karl Marx turns over in his grave.

    --
    If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Dr Spin on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:30PM (1 child)

      by Dr Spin (5239) on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:30PM (#624190)

      Karl Marx turns over in his grave

      If we can get him turning fast enough, it will be a good source of renewable energy.

      --
      Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
      • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:06PM

        by meustrus (4961) on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:06PM (#624253)

        Like this? [smbc-comics.com]

        --
        If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:34PM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:34PM (#624193)

      The State (or, more precisely, an organization that calls itself "government") is founded on the principle of "do-as-I-say" coercion rather than on "do-as-we-previously-agreed" cooperation; the State is inherently anti-Capitalism; the State is not just another group of Capitalists.

      • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:14PM (6 children)

        by meustrus (4961) on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:14PM (#624256)

        The straw man libertarian strikes again!

        No, your distinction is meaningless, and the contract law that capitalists rely upon only exists at the whim of the State anyway. You could more accurately say that capitalists use "do-as-we-previously-agreed-because-the-state-says" coercion, which is also, big surprise, exactly the same as what constitutional governments use. And either of them can (and do!) use your caveat of "but-the-state-can-make-exceptions".

        --
        If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:28PM (5 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @06:28PM (#624270)

          Contract enforcement is a service like any other; there's no inherent need for some culturally blessed monopoly.

          Indeed, competing enforcement agencies would be a much better Separation of Powers.

          That is to say, your premise is what is in dispute.

          • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:30PM (4 children)

            by meustrus (4961) on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:30PM (#624310)

            What you are describing sounds like feudal Europe. Which I may remind you is called the "dark ages" for a reason.

            --
            If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:39PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @07:39PM (#624316)

              Also, feudalism is not the reason that period was called "the Dark Ages".

              Is there no end to your inanity?

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:35PM (2 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 18 2018, @08:35PM (#624362)

              The black plague and Mongols killing everybody, book burnings, etc, is why it's called the dark ages. Lack of strong central authority is not.

              • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Friday January 19 2018, @03:09PM (1 child)

                by meustrus (4961) on Friday January 19 2018, @03:09PM (#624701)

                Mongols are a strong external threat that is best countered by a large unified defense force, which is impossible when feudal lords are too busy fighting each other.

                Book burnings are a consequence of ideology and totalitarianism. I'd like to see somebody try to rationalize how the feudal system was not inherently anti-enlightenment and totalitarian.

                The aforementioned squabbling feudal lords kept society from advancing by funneling its resources into a never-ending parade of small wars. Many, many times a potentially successful medieval society broke down when the strong central authority died and his many sons went about carving up the kingdom into little warring fiefdoms.

                The plague though, I'm not going to blame that on feudalism. But the dark ages includes centuries where the plague didn't even exist.

                --
                If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
                • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Saturday January 20 2018, @02:21PM

                  by t-3 (4907) on Saturday January 20 2018, @02:21PM (#625154)

                  There book burnings were a result of the plague. Illiterates who were hopeless and disillusioned, but knew that pieces of paper recorded debts they owed, burned everything. There was also a big backlash from the church against the big rise in paganism and atheism that came during/after the plague. As for central authority resisting Mongols: See China.

    • (Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:41PM

      by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 18 2018, @04:41PM (#624195) Journal

      I see you've read Animal Farm.