[MURG] Uploading IP (intellectual property)

[cat13 at illrepute.org]

"Yan King Yin" <y.k.y at lycos.com> writes:

> From: cat13 at illrepute.org
> 
> >> I do respect the open-source folks' wish to make software freely
> >> available. Not only do they want to give out free software but
> >> they also *want* to see more of it happen. But software takes
> >> effort to create, and I don't see why it's superior to make a
> >> profit out of something else such as maintenance. 
> >
> >I haven't read it, but I understand that The Cathedral and the Bazaar
> >addresses this question (the short answer being "better end product"):
> >http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/
> 
> Maybe the end-product will be better, but the reward
> system is problematic. Precisely it is because of the
> adoption of an open reward system (being nothing!) that
> the end-product can be fine tuned by a lot of people.
> So clearly there is a trade-off.

There is a hope that MU researchers create intellectual value (software,
research).
Many argue for enhancing that value by keeping open anything created.
You propose that we seek a more immediate (short-term) return on that
value by closing and selling it.

I believe that making information proprietary is, without exception,
detrimental to progress in the long run, even if there is an intent that
the duration of proprietaryness (?) is intended to be temporary.  I am
fully willing to accept the argument that that detriment can be offset by
short-term gain, but I regard proprietaryness as a worst-case scenario.
In other words, is there any other way we can possibly achieve whatever
short-term gain we need?  To answer that, it seems we should determine
our need: what costs do we need to cover?  What would you like to
accomplish and what do we need to accomplish it?