Re:Excerpts from Richard Stallman's talk in Mandya, India
by sa46 on Monday April 22, 2019 @04:51AM
(#19717449)
> Imagine, for example, the vast public good that would arise from Google or Microsoft opening up their entire code bases for free.
Why stop with code? If code is always better in the open, then why not require all business communication in the open.
> in any business there exists a tension between private profit and public good
I don't think there is always a tension. If not by profit, how do you motivate people to develop new technology and fund the support system necessary for development?
Re:Excerpts from Richard Stallman's talk in Mandya, India
by door5 on Monday April 22, 2019 @10:06AM
(#19719013)
>Why stop with code? If code is always better in the open, then why not require all business communication in the open
Sounds good to me, a kind of freedom of information act for private corporations.
It's actually a very good suggestion and I feel good about it. Another way of saying this is that intellectual property restrictions should be greatly relaxed. What's insane is that an overwhelming majority of time, money and energy in the tech sector goes into software that is closed source, and thus technological progress is greatly hindered because research and code is unable to be shared openly. Imagine, for example, the vast public good that would arise from Google or Microsoft opening up their entire code bases for free. Think about how much good has already arisen from their respective open source projects already, & if that was extended to all their products.
Regardless, my point is not that every business acts unethically, but rather that in any business there exists a tension between private profit and public good. This is one specific example -- it is in the interest of a private company to keep their code bases closed and proprietary, but it is in the public good for all software to be free an open.