From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 5 16:25:38 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 32E90106566C for ; Sun, 5 Aug 2012 16:25:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from roberthuff@rcn.com) Received: from smtp02.lnh.mail.rcn.net (smtp02.lnh.mail.rcn.net [207.172.157.102]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E5D0C8FC12 for ; Sun, 5 Aug 2012 16:25:37 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mr16.lnh.mail.rcn.net ([207.172.157.36]) by smtp02.lnh.mail.rcn.net with ESMTP; 05 Aug 2012 12:25:37 -0400 Received: from smtp04.lnh.mail.rcn.net (smtp04.lnh.mail.rcn.net [207.172.157.104]) by mr16.lnh.mail.rcn.net (MOS 4.3.4-GA) with ESMTP id BWX61294; Sun, 5 Aug 2012 12:25:36 -0400 Received: from 209-6-86-84.c3-0.smr-ubr2.sbo-smr.ma.cable.rcn.com (HELO jerusalem.litteratus.org.litteratus.org) ([209.6.86.84]) by smtp04.lnh.mail.rcn.net with ESMTP; 05 Aug 2012 12:25:37 -0400 From: Robert Huff MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <20510.40571.417415.852536@jerusalem.litteratus.org> Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 12:25:31 -0400 To: FreeBSD In-Reply-To: <20120805093320.7b7f0fc4@scorpio> References: <20120805045800.29444.qmail@joyce.lan> <20510.27576.562781.36878@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20120805093320.7b7f0fc4@scorpio> X-Mailer: VM 7.17 under 21.5 (beta28) "fuki" XEmacs Lucid X-Junkmail-Whitelist: YES (by domain whitelist at mr16.lnh.mail.rcn.net) Subject: Re: Patent hit - MS goes after Linux - FreeBSD ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:25:38 -0000 Jerry writes: > I agree up to the point about financial incentive. For myself, I > like making money. I don't apologize for that. Most engineers, > software / hardware designers also enjoy receiving a monetary > reward for their hard work. Simple giving away our hard work, > sweat and time to some socialist just because they feel they have > the right to the hard work of others is repulsive. Would you call Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) a socialist? Some years ago, he was giving an interview and was asked "Jeff, Amazon has applied for a patent for the One-Click system. If Amazon had known before it started there was no chance of receiving a patent - would it have created One-Click anyway?" [While I'm paraphasing, the essential content is preserved.] There was a long pause, during which you could tell Bezos understood _precisely_ what the real question was ... ... and (to his credit) answered "Yes." The programmers got paid. Amazon gets paid in the form of more expedient processing and (presumably) more sales due to ease of check-out. Why, as a society, should we deny other innovators the ability to use that technology to develop - hopefully - even better stuff? Robert Huff