[CS-FSLUG] [Linux4christians] Response to a Libre Software Skeptic

[Marco Tedaldi]

Am 15.01.2012 00:34, schrieb dcolburn at bibleseven.com:
> Everything that exists began with an idea.
>
> Creation from the Lord God, inventions from man.
>
Right... and what compensation does humankind give to god for that?

> The test of the logical-extreme requires that nothing could ever be
> patented and therefore the already-rich and well-equipped would
> (like the Chinese) steal other people's ideas and bring them to market,
> getting richer while depriving the inventor (the idea-person) of due
> compensation.
>
The chinese are
1. not rich
2. were so far behind technologically, that they could not have copied 
everything... until european and american comapies started to bring 
production there because of cheaper labour... and thus sold the know how 
there to make bigger gains...

But this is the sense of innovation! This is the fule of innovation. Be 
betzter than the other one. So if you have an idea and make it happen, 
you're the first. The copier will take time to make the copy and so will 
be late. Because the real innovator will have done the next step until 
than. The copier will alway lag behind and will have to feed on the 
leftovers. The copier can't make the same win margin, because he will 
have to be way cheaper than the original.

And why can china be chaper in production than europe and the us? Is it 
god given, that they have to be poor and we are the rich ones? Is it our 
god give right to feed on the cheap labour from there?


> One cannot separate creativity from the creator, nor the product from
> the idea.
>
Right. So patenting is wrong.
The basic idea seemed good... but it is a man made idea and therefore it 
MUST fail (like communism and other stuff).
Monopolies stiffle innovation, because monopolists have no pressure to 
innovate. A monopolist has to ask himself:"Why innovate when there is no 
competition around?"
Patents are even used to block competitors on purpose! Mayn companies 
have patents they do use actively themselfes but for the sole purpose to 
block competition in this field.

> Unless you reduce humankind to "beasts of burden" one must allow
> that something other than manual labor has value worthy of compensation.
>
Did I write that? I wrote about goods and services. Especially 
"services" is very broad! Services can be manual labor. But also 
compositing a song for someone is a service. Writing a software for 
someone is a service. Research can be a service.
And there are plenty of examples that proofe that this works. While 
there are also plenty of examples, that todays system with copyright and 
patents only benefits huge corporations and lawers.

About patents. I can only suggest to read this paper:
http://www.bu.edu/law/faculty/scholarship/workingpapers/documents/Bessen-Ford-Meurer-no-11-45rev.pdf

Basically it says: "Patent trolls have cost the US corporations 500B US$ 
in the last 20 years". USD 500B. If I get that about right that's 2000$ 
per person in the US. And you have paid it, because the corporations 
always pay with the money of the people (either the products are more 
expensive or they pay less to the workers... either way, the people pay!)


best regards

Marco