[10600] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Debating the NII "Truisms"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Glenn S. Tenney)
Sun Feb 27 20:58:21 1994
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 18:07:39 -0800
To: bcox@gmu.edu (Brad Cox @ GMU/PSOL), com-priv@psi.com
From: tenney@netcom.com (Glenn S. Tenney)
At 8:40 PM 2/14/94 -0500, Brad Cox @ GMU/PSOL wrote:
>"What is the difference than an ordinary rock and a Pet Rock(TM)?" I say
>"The same as the difference between pre- and post-japanese treatment of the
>free stuff we're discussing.
>
>In the pre state, nobody would buy it; a workable definition for waste
>product in my book. In the post state, they would, a workable definition
>for commercial product.
Perhaps you missed a portion of my point... It was not that no one would
buy the pre-state software, rather that no U.S. company would take the
pre-state software and turn it into a product. The lab director told me
that U.S. companies said they wouldn't base a product on the free software
because everyone could have it (ie. they wanted an exclusive and couldn't
get it). The Japanese company saw the potential value in the post-state
and did make a product out of it. Sadly, I am told, there was not much
difference between pre and post state...
---
Glenn Tenney
tenney@netcom.com Amateur radio: AA6ER
(415) 574-3420 Fax: (415) 574-0546
