Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!jes From: jes@mbio.med.upenn.edu (Joe Smith) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: reinventing the wheel (was Re: Software Tax: how and why?) Message-ID: Date: 24 Aug 89 14:22:28 GMT References: <3674@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <4811@omepd.UUCP> <12439@s.ms.uky.edu> <10511@claris.com> Sender: news@netnews.upenn.edu Organization: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA Lines: 21 In-reply-to: peirce@claris.com's message of 24 Aug 89 00:54:37 GMT > Except that people aren't free to use the highways as they see fit. The purpose for the restrictions is to keep the resource (roads) useable by everyone (cynicism aside :-)) by reducing irresponsible behavior. Even 'GNU-free' software has restrictions. I don't want to carry this too far - like any analogy, this breaks down at some point. There are lots of resources considered important enough for society to subsidize a significant fraction of the costs, especially start up costs. Interestingly, all the examples I can think of co-exist with various privately funded alternatives which cover more specialized niches.