Wow.. that really came from left field. I did not expect this discussion to wander to religion. I won't continue on this side track.


>IP doesn't exist. Property is tangible. Ideas are given to everybody through their basic faculties (i.e., a reasoning mind). It doesn't require a separate thing or group of things to obtain an idea. It only requires the basic qualities we already possess, plus that "spark" of the idea, which is given to us by God and set in motion by our experiences (schooling, circumstances -- though this also is not even always the case as there are spontaneous "out of the blue" ideas which occur to people all of the time).
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>Each person has been given a measure by God of all those components which make us distinctly unique and individual. As such, a person doesn't have to possess anything special or different than any other person to come up with the same or similar ideas as that person, as it is from God all ideas originate in the first place. As such, true ownership is His, given to whomever He chooses to give it. It is not for us to then build fortresses around those free gifts, but rather to be glad, thankful, and to give thanks, and to be willing participants in exercising, expanding, and sharing that precious gift with others, that the unique and special qualities God gave them may also be employed upon it, bring it to full fruition. Hoarding an idea behind "intellectual property" "rights" advances each idea a mere fraction of what it could've achieved were it given to all for free.
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>It's like a building. Hoarding might gain you 50 floors. But giving it to everybody lets everybody increase somewhat, and possibly a lot. The sum gain of "somewhat by all" far exceeds the even "large gain by one (or a few)".
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>>There is no business model in "free" software.
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>It's our service, our labor, our continued working to improve, increase, provide necessary services. We are hired to do work in this case, not to build empires. Empires are God's, we are stewards, servants. We provide labor to and for ourselves and others to originate, correct, expand, or maintain some necessary or desirable product. By sharing our work with others all are improved to a far greater degree than were everybody to go it alone.
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>It's self-evident.
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>God wants us working together... "__Our__ Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give __us__ this day our __daily__ bread..."
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>It is a corporate concern, from God to us, and from us to God.
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>>Let's look at one of the most successful companies out there SELLING "FREE" software, RedHat. There really is no FREE in what they have.
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>>And let's say I do have some application that doesn't do exactly what I want. It takes lots of my time to learn the code, the architecture, the, and maybe even the language it's written in. Doesn't appeal to me, and certainly in the realm of impossibility of most users.
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>>Remember Whil Hentzen's manifesto a few years ago? Where he was going the free software route? Guess what...it didn't work. He's still doing VFP applications because free didn't pay the bills.
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>>I told you to bring on your arguments. I can counter any of them because free simply doesn't work.
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>>>Free software's advantages don't come from price alone. The word "free" there refers to liberty, free as in "free speech," not "free food." And there are no rational arguments against the advantages of obtaining source code and, under a copyleft license, being able to modify and redistribute the software to suit your needs.
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>You're getting distracted by details. God sorts out the details. We need to focus on what God asked us to do: love one another, as He loved us, teach one another, as He taught us, grow with one another, as He provides to all.
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>God gives freely, both of ideas and tangible things (trees, crops, animals, copper ore, everything). We receive these gifts, holding them in proper respect with regards to who we are and who He is, and then (through prayer) give back to Him, which means also giving to everybody else so the fullness of the seed can be had through their unique contribution as well.
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>We either do this, or we don't.
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>The proprietary business model does not do this. It's the one accepted by the monetarily successful entities in this world because the enemy of God (Satan) is at work here for a season. But Satan's time is almost up, and each man must choose for himself who he will follow, who he will serve.
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>The choice there is for all: serve God as a servant, or serve self as a master.
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>Blessings, Craig.