[AktiviX-discuss] Ufi-learndirect: what should I say?

Chris chris at aktivix.org
Fri Jun 10 08:03:41 UTC 2005


Hi

On Fri 10-Jun-2005 at 02:56:15AM +0100, Robin Green wrote:
> 
> All the usual free software arguments - plus this one,
> which strangely I never hear in quite this form, even
> though it's the one closest to my heart, as a programmer
> myself:
> 
> Proprietary software programmers are alienated from the
> product of their labour in a way that's not true of free
> software programmers - even when they are both employed
> by profit-driven multinationals. Proprietary software
> programmers are (technically) not allowed to reuse their
> own code that they have written, in future jobs, for
> their own personal use, or to compete with their former
> employers. They may even be prohibited from reusing
> their own _ideas_ in their own code, by Non Disclosure
> Agreements, or software patents. They face the potential
> for massive, crippling fines, or damage to their career
> prospects, if they reuse their own code or even ideas
> without permission. This, in a field where the incentive
> for, and practice of, reuse of code, is huge.
> 
> Free software programmers typically don't have to put up
> with any of that bullshit with regards to the Free
> Software code that they themselves have written with
> their own hands.
> 
> Granted, there is a big variation in programmers. At the
> lowest end of the creativity spectrum, some
> "programmers" are little more than glorified data entry
> clerks, and this argument doesn't really apply to them
> (because the direct impact of copyright and patents upon
> their job difficulty is minimal to non-existent). But it
> does apply to a significant number of programmers.

Yep, good point :-)

The UfI do use Free software for some things, like some
servers and some web applications, but I expect that for
desktop stuff it's mostly MS...

Chris



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