Believing in Open Source is one thing — I’ve contributed code to LGPL and GPL (PILRC) projects, and I’ve even started a BOOST project (MorePalmOS — the BOST license is similiar to BSD, but without the need for credit). But somehow, believing that the license that code is distributed under should be respected makes me an enemy of rabid Open Source advocates.
I’ve spent over 1,000 hours on my current product. If you value my time at BC’s minimum wage, that’s $8,000 invested so far — counting only raw labour. (A more fair price would include at least part of my PC’s cost, the development software I had to buy specifically for this project since the Open Source tools were not adequate, and the hardware I had to purchase specifically for this project. Plus I’d be earning more than minimum wage!) By the end of this project, I expect over 10,000 hours of my effort to be focused on this project. That does not include testing, graphics work or marketing.
These people would have you believe that they should be legally free to not only use my product without paying for it, but also to offer it to other users for free or even sell it to other users.
Today, I logged in to find that three people on slashdot had declared me “foe” for daring to suggest that stealing software was still stealing, and that I had the right to decide who can and can not use my proprietary work. Also, checking my web site’s access logs revealed someone had tried to break in — something that hasn’t happened before. Coincidence? I don’t really think so.
So today’s lesson: Don’t dare suggest on Slashdot that anyone’s work product should be property of the creator.
(I should note that I don’t believe this of the majority of Open Source advocates, or even the majority of Slashdot users. I am one myself! But there seems to be a major problem in this world with poorly-raised children growing into stupid adults and thinking they own everything.)