On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 11:46 AM, Patrick Anderson <agnucius@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004@gmail.com> wrote:
> hi patrick,
>
> I think you may have misread the article it's not about selling software,
> but about withholding updates on bugs .. i.e. some info is no longer shared
> with competitors ...

As a software engineer myself, I know almost every update contains bug fixes.

Maybe you are saying it becomes a "social imperative" when the changes
are more 'vital'?

I guess I can see the concern.

It would be as though I had discovered a way to fix a terrible problem
in the world such as disease or hunger, but am holding that solution
ransom - revealing it only to those who pay me - similar to how the
pharmaceutical and agriculture industries patent lifeforms to stop
those designs from being copied.

There is a difference however. The Linux kernel is protected by the
GNU GPL which requires RedHat allow anyone who receives a copy of
those fixes be allowed to further distribute them without limit.

Hmm... So their actions require someone on earth buy at least 1 copy
of those fixes, but cannot stop that buyer from giving those changes
away - though there are real costs involved for internet connectivity
that distributor must find some way to recover.