Re: Documentation Standards was Re: [ox-en] UserLinux
- From: Raj Mathur <raju linux-delhi.org>
- Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 09:26:21 +0530
"Niall" == Niall Douglas <s_fsfeurope2 nedprod.com> writes:
Niall> [snip]
Niall> However, I do not think information wants to be free. Nor
Niall> do I think it /should/ be free because those who put in
Niall> effort to create it must be rewarded. To create outstanding
Niall> information at the fastest pace requires reward - thus to
Niall> achieve a better society quicker, we must reward the
Niall> creator.
Sure.
And the rewards need not be money, they can include any or all of:
- Personal satisfaction
- Peer recognition
- Enhanced market value for the author
- Paying off a perceived debt
- Cult figure status
- Gateway to commercial services
- Enhanced market for hardware
- Probably a dozen others I can't think of at 09:15 on a Sunday
Niall> Otherwise, we can consign ourselves to inevitable collapse
Niall> of our society, economy and ultimately, civilisation as
Niall> what we're doing right now is not sustainable.
Tangible goods will always trade for money (unless the socialists
actually manage to ``take over the world''). Services will probably
always trade for money. All we're talking about is making information
(software, documentation, music, fiction) free. I see no reason why
that should lead to the collapse of any society, economy or
civilisation.
I'd personally believe that the reverse would be true: the collapse is
nearer if we don't share information. Imagine what would have
happened if Caveman Foo had told Caveman Bar, ``I know this great
method to evade sabre-toothed tigers, but you must pay me half a
mastodon rear leg before I reveal it to you.''
Or taking the argument against freedom of information to its logically
ridiculous extremes:
- Pay $10 to read the constitution.
- Want to quote a passage by Luke in the Bible? Please contact the
Vatican for extremely cheap rates. ONLY TODAY: Select one Luke
passage, get one Mark passage FREE!!!
- Humming Greensleeves in public punishable by fines or, in case of
repeated offences, a jail term not to exceed 3 years.
- BeeGees sued for umpteen billions for ripping off Beethoven in
_Saturday Night Fever_.
Niall> Cheers, Niall
Regards,
-- Raju
--
Raj Mathur raju kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/
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