Re: [NTLK] FW: Fwd: Hacked WiFi driver

From: Dale Raby <daleraby_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun Jan 07 2007 - 11:12:54 EST

(In other words, I STRONGLY disagree with Sonny. But then I disagree
with private property, so...)
Where do you live? If you disagree with private property, I'd like to come
to your place and take everything you "own" that I can use, sell the rest,
and keep the money. Would this be OK?

I saw plenty of evidence of this kind of thing in Kuwait during and after
the Iraqi occupation, and just about as much in my own neighborhood.
Thieves are thieves, no matter what or how they steal.

I've kept quiet on this thread as I consider myself to be uninformed on the
issue of this particular software, but since the language levels are
degenerating, I will sound off.

Proprietary software is just that, proprietary. Somebody owns it.
"Abandonware", has, at best, a fuzzy legal definition, and the test is to
distribute it somehow and see what the owner does. If he does nothing,
perhaps, just perhaps, he doesn't care. He could, however, at any time,
haul you before a judge of some kind and make you pay.

Open source software is wonderful, and I make frequent use of it. Were I so
skilled, I might be writing some just to pay back the community of
Cyberspace. I would never advocate that anyone be forced to release their
work for free, though.

I have in my files, probably the best photograph of President Ronald Regan
ever taken, and it has never been published. Probably never will be, but I
would deeply resent anyone's attempt to dig into my negative files and force
me to release it to public domain while I am still alive.

Dale the Ornery Old Capitalist

-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
Received on Sun Jan 7 11:12:56 2007

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sun Jan 07 2007 - 14:30:00 EST