Re:Public Money, Public Code
by jtcruthers on Wednesday April 27, 2022 @11:09PM
(#31188347)
If I commissioned Adobe Software to write a program, from scratch, that I specifically state I will own all rights to the program and source code itself, then I would fully expect to license it how I want.
We are not talking about a single consumer. We are talking about the state itself. They will get the license they want if they believe it is needed.
Re:Public Money, Public Code
by GoblinSlayer on Thursday April 28, 2022 @02:58AM
(#31189517)
Ironically the state is a single consumer and they ever sell only one copy of the program, so business case for proprietary software doesn't exist at all.
Re:Public Money, Public Code
by looperhacks on Thursday April 28, 2022 @02:45AM
(#31189436)
> They will get the license they want if they believe it is needed.
They will also use more tax-payers money to do so. I agree that the code should be public, but I can see why that isn't the case.
> it costs more to buy 100% of the rights
of course. But this idea assumes that the contractors are selling the same software to multiple agents. Is that really the case?
Or are the agents already charging the maximum they could for the software, and yet, retain the rights themselves in the hopes of whiteboxing this software in the future for some other gov't agency?
Try buying a copy of Adobe Software[1], and then hosting the *.isos on your website. You paid for it, you should get to do it!
The short answer is, it costs more to buy 100% of the rights, and governments rarely do so.
[1] It'd have to be older Adobe Software, as modern Adobe Software is all monthly licenses, etc.