Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!uunet!image.soe.clarkson.edu!news From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: Software Tax: how and why? Message-ID:Date: 16 Aug 89 02:49:06 GMT References: <3674@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Sender: news@sun.soe.clarkson.edu Reply-To: nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu Organization: Clarkson University, Postdam NY Lines: 40 In-reply-to: jnh@ecemwl.ncsu.edu's message of 15 Aug 89 21:40:36 GMT In article <3674@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> jnh@ecemwl.ncsu.edu (Joseph N. Hall) writes: I WOULD like to see less "software hoarding," and I AM willing to make a contribution of my own ... but I'm not willing to be either penniless or intellectually stifled as a result. Useful software SHOULD be left to the public, so that we programmers can quit reinventing the wheel and begin inventing its replacement ... but how? One free-market solution is to insist upon payment *before* the creation of the software. This requires that the programmer have a reputation for delivering the goods. For example, if rms were to ask everyone for a $100 contribution so that he could sit down and work uninterrupted on the GNU Kernel, I believe that he would get many, many hundreds of dollars. Certainly *I* would break open the piggy bank. He could, for example, estimate that it would take him six months to write a kernel. He might reasonably expect to make $15,000 to $20,000 in that time by doing his normal consulting. Therefore, he would need 150 to 200 contributions. Of course, there would be a deadline for the contributions to arrive. If he didn't get that many by the deadline, he would send them back. He could set up an escrow account to store the money during the time the contributions were arriving. This ensures that people will either get the software they have paid for, or else they will get their money back. And if the deadline and the amount of contributions still needed are well known, then people who want the software will know that they either have to dig deeper, or rough up their friends. :-) There could even be a deadline for completion of the software. If the deadline is missed, then the money in escrow (or a portion thereof) would be returned. One advantage is that it reduces the risk that the programmer takes. He is guaranteed a given amount of money if he completes the software. It also guarantees that he would not be able to get rich. -- --russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu])|(70441.205@compuserve.com)| (Russ.Nelson@f360.n260.z1.fidonet.org)|(BH01@GEnie.com :-)