Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

[article] GPL Sued For "Software Price Fixing"

Options

Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Stark
    Registered Users Posts: 20,995 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    Interesting. From what I can tell, they're suing the Free Software Foundation rather than the GPL directly.


  • Options
    #3
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,758 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Damn this below cost selling :D

    http://www5.sys-con.com/read/48732_f.htm
    Daniel Wallace wrote:
    Unfortunately there is no single Court of Appeals with
    jurisdiction for copyright matters similar to the
    Federal Circuit's role with patents.

    The present state of copyright law is defined by twelve
    circuits all going in different directions. Copyright
    law with respect to computer programs is nothing short
    of judicially created chaos.

    That's why a fellow physicist Greg Aharonian has filed
    a lawsuit asking the Copyright Act be declared
    unconstitutional on grounds of vagueness.

    www.iplaw-quality.com/lawsuit/complaint.pdf

    Daniel Wallace :)
    Does anyone have a link to his SW to see what it's like ?


  • Options
    #4
    Orion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,807 ✭✭✭✭Orion


    This should be very interesting. I'll be amazed if it's not thrown out of court. If you use software covered under the GPL - it was written by someone else and they have every right to forbid you to charge for it (or any use of it).


  • Options
    #5
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,758 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    http://www.msversus.org/book/print/1
    The Microsoft Corporation

    Microsoft generates revenue from licensing software. It operates on a factory model of software sales: keep availability of bits limited to increase value and produce more bits for more people to increase revenue. In the traditional factory products made of limited resources are reproduced and sold. By simple laws of economics if supply of the product is somewhat limited and a demand exists, a profit can be made. Software, however, is a limitless resource. Giving someone my software does not deprive me of any of my software. The sale value is created by the artificial limit placed on copying bits. While the resource limit can not be avoided in the physical world, this artificial limit on software helps only the vendor at the expense of the customer. The customer gets no better software by paying more.

    Most software creators, by contrast, earn money for their services rather than sales. By most estimates 85% to 95% of all software developers do not work for a company whose revenue is derived from software sales. They are paid for their services in creating software directly for a customer. Software companies such as Microsoft aren't required for the continued growth of the information technology industry. How, then, are they so successful? A better question would be why are they so profitable? Their success is relative and questionable, but their ability to generate revenue is not. What affect does the Microsoft corporation have on industries, governments, and customers? All of these things need to be examined in more detail.
    So up to 95% of software developers do not depend on the one-off price of software to make a living.


Advertisement