[8374] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
RE: Been reading a book (dangerous thing to do)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Russell Nelson)
Tue Nov 16 11:53:03 1993
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 10:19:48 EST
From: "Russell Nelson" <nelson@crynwr.com>
To: <com-priv@psi.com>
[ Why is it that I'm constantly arguing economics on com-priv? ]
On Tue, 16 Nov 1993 01:35:44 -0500 (EST), "Bayardo Alvarez" <balvarez@mason1.gmu.edu> wrote:
> In message Sun, 14 Nov 1993 00:02:37 EST,
> "Russell Nelson" <nelson@crynwr.com> writes:
>
> > One ramification of the Economics Lesson above is that when you
> > force people to make uneconomic decisions (e.g. tariffs, price
> > fixing, subsidization, etc), society is poorer in the aggregate.
> > Of course what usually happens is that *some* people are made richer,
> > and everyone else is made even *more* poorer.
> >
> > For example, proprietary software (or proprietary information, e.g.
> > page numbers) makes some people richer. But if the software was
> > freely copyable, then the people who *had* been paying for the
> > software would still have their wealth.
>
>
> You mention subsidization as an uneconomic decision people have to make.
> How else would free software be developed but by subsidizing?
You should have noticed that I said "...or for the creatively
challenged, taxes". Ask Brad Cox for a copy of his article "What if
there is a silver bullet and the competition gets it first?".
> It is fallacious to believe that "*some* people are made richer, and everyone
> else is made even *more* poorer".
I don't understand this comment. When you coercively transfer wealth
from one party to another, it's a negative-sum game, because the
coercion takes resources.
If freely-copyable software can be produced by the market, then we
are foolish as a society to protect software as if it were scarce.
Before anyone (continues to) bray that I'm an ignorant jackass, let me
say that after two years of running Crynwr Software, I have no debt.
> I recognize that the current methods to ensure software copyrights are
> cumbersome and confusing, but turning around and revoking these rights can
> only be detrimental. Let's instead devise the mechanisms to make software
> accessible to more users, and adherence to owner rights easier and clearer.
You assert this, but you present no persuasive evidence.
--
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
11 Grant St. | 315-268-1925 (-9201 FAX) | Quakers do it in the light
Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.
