Re:Gamification Affects Software Developers: Cautionary Evid...
by smaudet on Thursday October 27, 2022 @12:00AM
(#33352909)
"GitHub's just a tool to me."
Tools are not made all equal, and there's this fallacy that just because it is a tool it is probably OK and as easy to use as abuse.
To borrow from the medical industry - yes, opiate drugs are absolutely useful _in specific cases of extreme acute pain_, but that doesn't make them good tools for dealing with a headache.
A tool can be bad, even if it can be used well, likewise a tool can be good even if it can be used for bad.
"Code is intangible, it can be multiple places" - you should study law, especially wrt existing legal precedents. If this were true, things like software patents would not be a problem, and I would evaluate how much you really can lay claim to your code, especially now Microsoft has played their hand here...
In a world where digital media and electronics remain an important part of every industry, and large rich tech companies exist, these are absolutely concerns, this is not some idle ideological patter. Your IP matters, (F)OSS has IP as well, that's part of why any of this matters.
Tools are not made all equal, and there's this fallacy that just because it is a tool it is probably OK and as easy to use as abuse.
To borrow from the medical industry - yes, opiate drugs are absolutely useful _in specific cases of extreme acute pain_, but that doesn't make them good tools for dealing with a headache.
A tool can be bad, even if it can be used well, likewise a tool can be good even if it can be used for bad.
"Code is intangible, it can be multiple places" - you should study law, especially wrt existing legal precedents. If this were true, things like software patents would not be a problem, and I would evaluate how much you really can lay claim to your code, especially now Microsoft has played their hand here...
In a world where digital media and electronics remain an important part of every industry, and large rich tech companies exist, these are absolutely concerns, this is not some idle ideological patter. Your IP matters, (F)OSS has IP as well, that's part of why any of this matters.
Choose your blade wisely lest it cut you.