Re:Open source means surrendering your monopoly over commerc...
by belorn on Wednesday January 20, 2021 @10:35AM
(#25847610)
My own reaction was similar in that I felt opposed to this article. In particular I have two major issues.
First issue and foremost, a copyright license should be the terms under which a author feel comfortable that other people use their work. In term of open source and free software, those terms are usually formed in the context of those communities.
The second issue is the claim that FOSS licenses exist for the express purpose of breaking the artificial monopoly of intellectual property. This is a common discussed topic around GPL, and here the authors of GPL has said some key details that I find important. A copyright license is a strategy to achieve the goals of the author and community, rather than being an end in it self. The strategy that produce the best outcome is the correct license. Sometimes that means the best license is the surrender of the concept of intellectual property, and in other cases it can be the embrace of intellectual property as a tool to enforce rules which result in outcomes of most freedom for everyone.
First issue and foremost, a copyright license should be the terms under which a author feel comfortable that other people use their work. In term of open source and free software, those terms are usually formed in the context of those communities.
The second issue is the claim that FOSS licenses exist for the express purpose of breaking the artificial monopoly of intellectual property. This is a common discussed topic around GPL, and here the authors of GPL has said some key details that I find important. A copyright license is a strategy to achieve the goals of the author and community, rather than being an end in it self. The strategy that produce the best outcome is the correct license. Sometimes that means the best license is the surrender of the concept of intellectual property, and in other cases it can be the embrace of intellectual property as a tool to enforce rules which result in outcomes of most freedom for everyone.