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I've followed this thread with some interest and have a couple of points I'd like to make.
1 Re copyright etc and the fact that a lot of people copy software music etc - this is wrong, period. The reason a lot of people don't really see it that way is simply a matter of scale (or greed!). Everyone knows you can create a music CD for pennies and, even taking into account the money paid to artists, people feel that the record companies are ripping them off on pricing. They therefore don't feel too guilty about copying the odd CD etc. The same applies to software - most people have absolutely no idea of the amount of development/time that goes into a particular piece of software.
2 Matter of scale again - MS make so much money that copying Office2000 isn't really going to harm them. But if everyone thinks like that then the little bit of money the company loses can grow quite quickly. Again probably not a great problem for MS and the like but it could be very damaging for smaller companies.
3 We write a book, we want to sell it; we make pottery, we want to sell it. While there are things we do for pleasure, workwise we do things to make money - we want to benefit from our labours. If we create a new all singing/dancing toaster design then we want to benefit from it - I see no difference.
Copyright, Intellectual Property, Patents etc can be a minefield. The company I currently work for exists on IP. We create designs (off the shelf and custom) that are then licensed so I am VERY aware of the area. We are a relatively small company and anyone ripping off our IP could have a very detrimental effect on the business. It has been said that IP doesn't follow 'natural' law and that people don't easily buy into it. I can see that people don't buy into it but that's a matter of time. There are NO natural laws (but that of survival). All laws are artificial and have been created to help us live together peacefully. Some have been around a lot longer and so are more accepted than others, nothing more.
To me writing is my job. I enjoy it but it's still just my job and it provides me with the necessaries to live. When I write there are several options:
1 I may write for my employer who pays me for what I do. This belongs to my employer and, unless they place it in the public domain, it is not mine to spread around.
2 I may write for fun and this I may keep to myself, share with friends or post on a web site for all the world to see. It's mine and I can do what I like with it.
3 I may write (for myself) for profit - this may be a novel, text book, article, whatever. This I sell, collect royalties on whatever. To me this is no different than if I'd made furniture, pottery whatever. It's mine and if it's stolen then that is theft.
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A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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