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• I love to program, too. But...
  2002-08-04 22:26:55  brettglass [Reply | View]
  
  
  You write:
  
  > I cannot enjoy a world of proprietory software
  > as a hobbyist programmer.
  
  The correct world is "commercial," not proprietary.
  (The FSF's propaganda misuses the word
  "proprietary" so as to take advantage of the word's
  negative connotations of incompatibility and
  "lock-in.")
  
  > I do not make money out of software so do not
  > know the industry you work in.
  
  Then how can you presume to understand my
  situation?
  
  > I do think it is sad that you think you will
  > have no food on the table if your source code
  > is available for others to fix to their liking
  
  It is possible for programmers to make a living
  in the presence of software for which source code
  is publicly available. However, the GPL
  attacks programmers by destroying their markets
  *and* by denying them access to the source code.
  (If a programmer so much as looks as GPLed code
  when writing his own products, he must, according
  to the license, give them away.)
  
  > but that is how I would like the industry to
  > be.
  
  Sorry, but there will be no industry if the GPL
  achieves its purpose.
  
  > Free Software is not about putting businesses
  > out of business.
  
  Yes, it is. Richard Stallman, the author of the
  GPL, specifically said so in his "GNU Manifesto."
  He claimed that good-paying jobs for programmers
  should be "banned," and set about attempting to
  make this happen by launching the FSF. The FSF's
  propaganda, some of which is included in the GPL
  itself, has duped many programmers into destroying
  their profession.
  
  > In a world of Free Software anyone can program
  
  Anyone can program anytime. In the FSF's world,
  however, no one can make money from it.
  
  > but only the best make money out of it.
  
  Not true. In the FSF's world, no one can sell
  software for money. The best one can do is
  work for some large corporation -- doing menial
  administration and programming tasks and being
  poorly paid for it.
  
  So much for "flow." How can one achieve or
  maintain "flow" when programming is a part-time
  hobby? When one can't dive into a project
  full-time, spending whole weeks (or longer!)
  honing one's work to make it the best it can
  be? When one has to stop -- for weeks or months --
  to work at a different job to put food on the
  table?
  
  Programmers' sense of craftsmanship and
  professionalism has always been developed --
  that's why we have so many poorly designed
  abominations in the software world. The spread
  of the GPL may well ensure that truly professional
  code will be LESS available in the future.
  been