(L)GPL remarks and FreeGIS licensing

[Niall Douglas]

On 13 Aug 2003 at 23:31, Xavi Drudis Ferran wrote:

> > However, we /can/ learn to behave differently and slowly, I think we
> > are. But you can't claim it's natural to share - it isn't outside
> > your family unit.
> 
> IMHO sharing food has nothing to do with sharing knowledge.

They are closer than you think.

> Only one person can eat one thing, but you don't lose knowledge by
> sharing it. This does not mean you want you necessarily want to share
> all the knowledge you have, but any comparison with material goods is
> misleading.

You don't lose the knowledge itself, but you /do/ lose the advantage 
gained by you knowing it and no one else. That's what patents in 
general are about, company secrets, government intelligence services 
and indeed all schools in the western educational paradigm (see 
"Deschooling society" by Ivan Illich).

If you look at the first actions the British empire took after 
conquering India, they destroyed the schools, factories and anything 
which could compete with English industry. In two generations, India 
had been set back at least a hundred years. This kept them under the 
imperial yoke until the British sent a really stupid governor over 
there and prevented the India tea company from doing what it did, and 
it was only this idiocy that caused the rise of nationalism.

If you take this still further, there is an alarming tendency in 
British and American companies to try and prevent their employees 
learning new tricks in case they might up and leave for a better job. 
I have seen it so many times it hurts, because really they are 
damaging the common pool of national employees. Then they have the 
gall to complain about skills shortages and want to import third 
world labour who can't complain, switch job or do anything but work 
for peanuts for fear of losing their work visa. This of course means 
all the locals become unemployed and suck the country dry by being 
unproductive!

Welcome to the modern working world!

Cheers,
Niall