The ultimate goal

Posted Dec 11, 2008 21:28 UTC (Thu) by whacker (guest, #55546)
In reply to: Free Software Foundation files suit against Cisco for GPL violations by atai
Parent article: Free Software Foundation files suit against Cisco for GPL violations

I think it is important to get people to understand that knowledge is not a material object, it is something that is most useful only when it is shared.

Thats the ultimate goal. The GPL is a tool that helps us get there.

The ultimate goal

Posted Dec 12, 2008 0:16 UTC (Fri) by felixfix (subscriber, #242) [Link] (3 responses)

Knowledge is only useful when shared?

OK, share with us your bank account numbers, id numbers, name, address, mother's maiden name, passwords ...

But I suppose you meant knowledge that others have generated for themselves, not dry facts.

So, share with us your business's strategic plan, upcoming products, market analysis ...

Not what you meant? You meant just software maybe?

I think you probably have a lot of limitations on just what knowledge you meant that is most useful only when shared. Please amplify.

Most useful

Posted Dec 12, 2008 1:39 UTC (Fri) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link]

Criticizing based on a misquote is pretty cheap argumentation.

We distinguish a fact as knowledge, vs. raw data or ephemeral plans, by how repeatedly and generally useful it is. Artificially restricting knowledge harms the body public by interfering with this repeated use. Causing such harm is legal, generally, so must be specifically discouraged when we want to prevent it. The GPL is one way to do that. The patent right grant is another way. Tenure is a third.

The ultimate goal

Posted Dec 12, 2008 8:29 UTC (Fri) by job (guest, #670) [Link] (1 responses)

That's very different types of information. Passwords are supposed to be a secret. They are not supposed to be "useful" to others in any meaningful way.

The other things you mention are publicly available. Plus every time I do consulting work I put them on paper in order to get paid. That's pretty useful to me.

The ultimate goal

Posted Dec 13, 2008 1:01 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (guest, #15091) [Link]

Indeed, passwords are only useful when shared: the owner has to share them with the authenticator to make them work. If whacker shared with you his/her passwords then they would be useful for you to steal his identity (or whatever they protect).

The quote "knowledge is most useful only when it is shared" is surprisingly accurate, even beyond software where it was supposed to be applied.