> 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