Re: [ox-en] Re: Business opportuities based on Free Software
- From: crox iac-research.ch (Christoph Reuss)
- Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 14:58:43 +0200
Per I. Mathisen wrote today:
Wikipedia is published under the GNU FDL license, and there are lots of
wikipedia copies around that have ads. The users seem to prefer the
original one that does not have ads. If the original started to have ads,
I am sure there would immediately be an alternative without ads, and a
stampede of users and contributors to that alternative.
Where does the money for the ads in the copies go? Is it true that
commercial third parties attract web traffic to their site by placing
a Wikipedia copy on it? Isn't this a waste of resources? If users
prefer No ads, then why do they visit the copies _with_ ads?
That is a good thing. Fences, windows and tollbooths are against the
spirit of free software and information. You do not seem to understand
this, which is sad.
And you don't seem to understand that "there's no free lunch" (except for
the rich..) -- the choice is between:
(a) having no ads but a capitalist King who skews the whole project
towards his own capitalist objectives, along with some copies with ads
whose revenues go to private deep pockets who don't contribute content.
(b) having a genuinely Free project and fund it by ad revenues (_without_
being obliged to skew the project towards advertisers' objectives!),
so the ads at least serve a useful purpose instead of private pockets.
I'd prefer (b) and I wonder if it would be possible to implement it.
Users and writers may prefer to become independent from King Jimbo
and his capitalist bias even if it means to accept ads. The price
of freedom is eternal vigilance. ;-)
Chris
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