[pp.int.general] Why Free Software misses the point

[Mikko Särelä]

On Mon, 17 May 2010, Yves Quemener wrote:
> Mikko Särelä wrote:
> > I agree. 
> >
> > As a side note, I believe copyright should only be available for 
> > software that has been published with source code. If the purpose of 
> > copyrights is, as with patents, to give incentives to produce things - 
> > to enrich public domain, then no legal protection should be given to 
> > closed source software.
> >   
> An interesting and intriguing idea. But I am not sure about what you 
> propose. I see two interpretations :
> 
> - That copyright should not apply to binaries but that one could publish 
> source code, copyright it, and restrict the rights to copy and 
> distribute it without paying him (the only difference with today's 
> situation would be that we can see the source code but not reuse it)
> 
> - That non-free licenses should not be enforceable.

I believe the first one of the above should be the minimum - combined with 
5-10 year copyright. Hence, the work would be released to the public. 
Nowadays, closed source vendors get all the benefits and the public gets 
none. 

-- 
Mikko Särelä
"It is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a
curse", Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain