Open-Source, Closed Minds (CIO Insight) [LWN.net]

Open-Source, Closed Minds (CIO Insight)

Posted Oct 8, 2003 17:52 UTC (Wed) by jdthood (guest, #4157)
Parent article: Open-Source, Closed Minds (CIO Insight)

Will someone please explain to me how 'nonproprietary property' is not
a contradiction in terms?

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Open-Source, Closed Minds (CIO Insight)

Posted Oct 8, 2003 21:04 UTC (Wed) by imres (guest, #12) [Link]

It is more or less like buying a house and putting it at the disposal of
anyone willing to use it. But this scheme works much better with non-rival
goods, like ideas or software:

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then
you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have
an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."
(George Bernard Shaw)

Isn't "nonproprietary property" the essence of all free software and all
open-source licenses? The author retains the copyright and uses it to put the
product at the disposal of whoever is willing to use it, to distribute it or
to modify it (eventually under certain conditions).

Just my two cents.