[Musix-Help] Re: LinuxSampler license

Mar Abr 11 15:35:40 CEST 2006

Re: LinuxSampler license
De: David Turner <novalis en fsf.org>
  Para: Christian Schoenebeck <cuse en users.sourceforge.net>
  CC: andreas.persson en lkpg.visit.se, rncbc en rncbc.org, 
sbenno en gardena.net, Marcos Guglielmetti <marcospcmusica en gmail.com>, 
Vladimir Senkov <hangup en gmail.com>
  Fecha: 10/04/06 18:45
   
> You have basically invented a diferent way of software development: a
> cooperative.  A cooperative can be a good way to do things.  I belong 
to
> a members-only cooperative food market (the Park Slope Food Coop), 
where
> I work a few hours per month and in exchange can shop for food there.   
> 
> But I don't think it's quite right for software development.  At the
> Food Coop, every shopper entails an additional burden for the store
> (more food to stock, more people working check-out, etc).  So, to
> require every shopper to contribute some time is reasonable.  It would
> be impossible to run the coop without member help unless help were
> hired, and that would mean higher prices.  
> 
> But software isn't like that.  Additional users don't increase 
developer
> costs, except in very minor ways, such as bandwidth and support 
requests
> -- but the former can be had for free via Savannah and the latter can 
be
> ignored.  So, there is no need to ask users to pay (either in money or
> in time) to use the software.
> 
> In theory, it is possible that that without user help, there wouldn't 
be
> enough programmers and time to get software written.  But we know from
> the success of the Free Software movement that this is not true.  So, 
we
> naturally gravitate towards a model which is voluntary in nature.  And
> to protect the system we have made, we use copyleft. 
> 
> The Free Software model doesn't depend on any sort of centralized
> authority.  There's no need to have a committee to decide who should 
get
> what.  Instead, a series of individual decisions leads to great
> software, and every user is free to decide what software to work on
> based on where his or her interests and skills lie.  
> 
> Sure, you could create a system where you required people to 
contribute
> money in order to use software -- but then you would just have
> proprietary software again with the exception that non-commercial use
> wouldn't cost anything, and everyone would be able to read the code.
> That still doesn't bring you the freedom that Free Software provides.
> 
-- 
Marcos Guglielmetti  
Director del desarrollo de Musix GNU+Linux 
(www.musix.org.ar) (www.pc-musica.com.ar/musix)
(ftp://musix.ourproject.org/pub/musix/)