[OT] - does IP exist?

[Yigal Chripun]

I've started a new thread so we don't pollute that other one.

Lets start from the beginning: we live in a democracy which is a
compromise between the right of the individual and the rights of the
community he belongs to. One of the rights of the community is the right
to public access to any idea/artistic creation any individual has published.
The idea behind both laws, patent law and copyright law, is very similar
even though they serve two distinct purposes: they give an exclusive
time-span to the creator after coming forward with the creation on the
expense of that right of the public in order to make it worthwhile for
individuals in the community to come up with new ideas and to encourage
new ideas and new creations.
to answer the specific issues raised:

Robert wrote:
> Anyways, music is a pretty bad example, since most online music sites
> are crap, record companies don't pay artists well, etc., etc. Let's
> restrict our domain to software, since we're both creators of software
> (I'm guessing) and it's our work that's being ripped off. Say you quit
> your day job, took out a loan, and spent two years, 10 hours a day
> developing a Photoshop-killer. Would you think people had the right to
> use it without paying you?"

Yes, people do have the right to use any software I create and put out
in the open. The question you should have asked is this: "_what_ is you
business model for such a situation?"

there are tons of possibilities: I could sell support and consulting
services (if it works for Red Hat..) for example. all depends on the
size and complexity of the product. say I developed an IDE ( I like
IDEs..) I can also make my living by developing custom plugins ordered
by customers. What's important to realize is that Software is a service
not a product. and each service needs to have its own business model (so
the business model appropriate for say an IDE won't suit an online game).
I know we are developers and all we want to do is just write code and
get paid for it but unless you have a viable business model that's just
wishful thinking.

next point: you talked about online alternatives like netflix, itunes,
etc. I'll assume you live in the US, and as such you live in a bubble.
all those services are limited to the US and Canada. I live in Israel
and none of those sites will let me in. Last I checked I tunes only
recently allowed for people from Israel to get in and to a very limited
subset of stuff (only software, I think). Therefore those are not
alternatives for me. Most of the piracy doesn't come from the US where
those services are available but from other countries where the "legal"
options are much more expensive and no viable "legal" solutions exist.

To address Mike's post:
Your entire post is based on the wrong assumption that software is a
product and not a service (of free information). hence, your business
model is wrong.
When the dinosaurs lived 65 billion years ago, there was plenty of
oxygen in the atmosphere, when that went down a notch they couldn't
breath and got extinct and replaced by more efficient breathers
(mammals). The fact is that the level of oxygen were reduced. the choice
was to either breath more efficiently or die. same goes here - you need
to adapt to the environment not the other way around. you want to make
money from your software? than come up with a viable business model. Do
not expect everyone to bend over for you. the free market isn't that
much different from nature. you don't adapt, you get extinct.

I'll say it one more time: "The customer is always right". that's the
gist of it.