Re: [Pan-users] Re: OT: freedomware vs... Was: Building Pan on Windows?

[Joe Zeff]

On 03/10/2010 10:34 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Society has made a choice to create the legal fiction of "copyright" out
> of a belief that this will promote the useful arts and sciences.

And, speaking as a writer (Six time Nanowrimo winner, none published. 
Yet.) I'm glad they have.  Writing novels is *hard work.*  At least as 
hard as writing software.  I can pretty much guarantee that almost none 
would be published without copyright protection because that's about the 
only thing that gives the author any chance at a profit.  Mind you, I 
think modern copyrights last too long, but that's another issue.

And no, I don't have any "reading comprehension" issues.  I was 
responding to the spirit of your comments, not the words themselves. 
You clearly have issues with the idea of the profit motive, at least 
when it comes to software, and need to realize that not only doesn't 
everybody agree with you, but that most people actively disagree.