Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!tek
From: tek@ms.uky.edu (Thomas Kunselman)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Copywrongs
Message-ID: <12440@s.ms.uky.edu>
Date: 19 Aug 89 15:53:03 GMT
References: <11143@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <8908182307.AA11856@nlp9>
Reply-To: tek@ms.uky.edu (Thomas Kunselman)
Organization: U of Kentucky, Mathematical Sciences
Lines: 31

I think we are already heading towards the direction of 'free' information.

When you buy an automobile, you are not just paying for the profit and
the cost to make a copy, but you are also, among other things, paying 
for research and development costs.  Even information products have 
research and development costs.  I think the important idea here is not
to copy information products for free, but rather to spread the costs of
research and development among the many users in an equal and non-profiteering
manner.  

Already we are seeing things like this, especially with the Japanese, but
also here with the Open Software Foundation and similar organizations. 
When development costs have been paid for there is no reason NOT to copy
the information for free.  I believe it could get quite difficult to 
produce new information products for 0 real development costs.  

It would be interesting to see an organization started up that would 
manage a variety of software projects for interested parties.  Some
means would have to be developed to distribute, to a certain point,
development costs of the software, but I think breakeven, not profit,
is the goal here.  Information products are an easily shareable resource
where it makes sense to elminate duplication of effort.




-- 
Thomas Kunselman                              {rutgers,uunet}!ukma!tek          
Office of Institutional Research       bitnet: tek@ukma.bitnet
Kentucky State University            internet: tek@ms.uky.edu
Frankfort, KY 40601                     Educate, Don't Legislate!