From: Thomas Lord <lord@emf.net>
To: "Lennart Borgman (gmail)" <lennart.borgman@gmail.com>
Cc: bob@rattlesnake.com, rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Release plans
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:22:30 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <48B5EFC6.5070102@emf.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <48B5DEBD.9090009@gmail.com>
Lennart Borgman (gmail) wrote:
> Thomas Lord wrote:
>
>> Consider a feature, X, which is desirable for practical purposes.
>>
>> Consider a feature, Y, which is banned. [....]
>>
>>
>
> Are you sure that reasoning is valid as an argument here? There will for
> example, as you even hint, be different economic incentives for
> different people.
>
>
Yes, I've seen it happen.
There are different incentives for different people, that's right.
So, the guy that goes into business selling non-free X because
he did a masters thesis that made it uniquely easy for him to
implement X -- THAT GUY -- that guy is the main (type of)
guy around whom start-ups are formed.
That unique advantage for "that guy" is only half of what makes
the business, though. The other two halves are that other people
will find other things easier to do than implement X and that other
people want X.
The "hat trick" -- the perfect three points for a non-free software
start-up -- are: (1) a program X that it is easy for me to write; (2)
where X is hard for YOU to write; (3) and people want X for
practical purposes.
"That guy" for whom X is easy is rare but, in a sufficiently
large crowd, he is practically guaranteed to exist: so (1) is
almost a free point.
There are a lot of possible values of X that people might want so
(3) is practically a free point.
The only touch bit is (2): X has to be hard for (most) *other*
people to write. And that's where the questions about banning
feature Y come in. Banning Y can only help "that guy" with (2).
You should see how the industry of deep packet inspection appliance
vendors has unfolded, for example. It is exactly this pattern of
start-ups and non-free software.
You can also do the thought experiment of imagining an (unachievable)
world in which any program you could possibly want was, somehow,
cheap and easy to write. Non-free software business models would not
thrive in such a world, not like they do now (mostly).
We can't every perfectly get to that world but we can get a lot closer
than we are -- and feature bans are a retreat from that objective.
-t
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2008-08-28 0:22 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 338+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2008-08-12 14:34 Release plans A Soare
2008-08-12 14:52 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 17:14 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-13 6:26 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-13 9:20 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 5:19 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-14 8:38 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 9:33 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 9:49 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 10:04 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 10:30 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 11:07 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 11:44 ` Tassilo Horn
2008-08-14 12:27 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-14 12:39 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 13:15 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 13:28 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 13:41 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 17:08 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-14 14:30 ` Gilaras Drakeson
2008-08-14 18:00 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 14:18 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-15 17:54 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 16:29 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-14 10:37 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 11:24 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 12:54 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 13:31 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 14:02 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 16:55 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 1:41 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 3:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 4:04 ` Sean O'Rourke
2008-08-15 20:12 ` Michael Ekstrand
2008-08-15 5:08 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-16 0:08 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 5:14 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-15 17:20 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 10:39 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 12:05 ` joakim
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 9:32 ` joakim
2008-08-18 6:14 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 7:19 ` Tassilo Horn
2008-08-18 8:03 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-08-18 8:26 ` joakim
2008-08-19 12:21 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-19 13:02 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-20 3:47 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-20 5:20 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-19 13:42 ` Tassilo Horn
2008-08-20 3:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 14:20 ` Gilaras Drakeson
2008-08-18 17:13 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-18 17:42 ` Paul R
2008-08-19 12:21 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-20 0:01 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-21 23:09 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-22 0:34 ` whither GNU Thomas Lord
2008-08-22 0:17 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-22 3:40 ` David Robinow
2008-08-22 7:36 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-23 5:09 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-22 10:21 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-22 21:31 ` Thomas Lord
[not found] ` <858wuoad0u.fsf@lola.goethe.zz>
2008-08-23 4:56 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 16:29 ` Release plans Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-16 21:04 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 21:35 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-16 22:43 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-17 7:31 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-18 0:01 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-18 10:18 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-18 17:58 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-18 20:20 ` Dynamic loading (was: Release plans) Stefan Monnier
2008-08-18 22:18 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-20 16:15 ` Dynamic loading Stefan Monnier
2008-08-20 16:57 ` joakim
2008-08-25 13:09 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-26 16:37 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 21:09 ` Release plans Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-18 23:27 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-19 10:23 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-19 11:56 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-19 9:46 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-19 12:36 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-20 5:55 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-20 17:48 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-25 1:34 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-25 10:47 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-25 13:13 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-25 15:19 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-25 17:11 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-26 4:10 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-26 10:59 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-27 5:00 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 11:37 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-28 5:42 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-28 10:17 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-26 16:37 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-26 18:14 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 18:54 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-27 20:33 ` Paul R
2008-08-29 2:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-29 5:34 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 11:39 ` Bruce Stephens
2008-08-29 13:11 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-29 19:23 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 20:03 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-29 20:20 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-08-29 20:53 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-29 23:24 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 22:56 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-30 19:51 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-30 23:07 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-31 9:09 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-29 22:53 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-31 9:27 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-29 19:13 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 23:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-01 6:11 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-01 18:25 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 22:32 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 21:57 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-28 0:10 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 2:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-29 5:30 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 22:09 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-28 1:10 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-01 6:11 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-01 18:09 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-02 1:09 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-02 2:18 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-02 14:13 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-02 20:48 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-01 18:20 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-09-01 20:17 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-01 19:53 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-09-01 21:23 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-02 3:26 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-09-02 20:43 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-03 5:08 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 23:09 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-28 0:22 ` Thomas Lord [this message]
2008-08-28 1:01 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-26 21:25 ` joakim
2008-08-29 2:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-19 15:52 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-25 14:39 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-25 22:01 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-25 22:19 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-26 4:54 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-26 7:16 ` ["agree"] " Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 5:10 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 16:00 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-26 10:02 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-27 5:38 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 21:06 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-27 21:12 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-28 20:01 ` Sean Sieger
2008-08-28 6:07 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 15:57 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-27 18:33 ` tomas
2008-08-28 6:09 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-28 8:14 ` tomas
2008-08-28 7:25 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-28 8:23 ` tomas
2008-08-28 6:26 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-19 16:31 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-20 3:47 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-20 6:14 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-19 12:21 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-19 13:04 ` Paul R
2008-08-20 3:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 2:37 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-17 8:01 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-17 17:42 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-17 21:07 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-17 21:24 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-17 21:33 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-17 22:31 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-18 3:06 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-18 6:14 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 21:45 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-18 6:14 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 17:09 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-19 16:28 ` René Kyllingstad
2008-08-20 3:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 3:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 17:17 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 7:14 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 17:24 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-08-15 3:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 14:04 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-15 15:10 ` [OT] " Yavor Doganov
2008-08-16 7:05 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 16:35 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 18:07 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2008-08-14 15:36 Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-14 15:51 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 21:00 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-14 22:58 ` Johannes Weiner
[not found] <SRV-ADEXCHyjlMFAVNL0000090e@waccglobal.org>
2008-08-13 14:07 ` Mike Rowse
2008-08-13 1:30 A Soare
2008-08-12 20:51 A Soare
2008-08-12 21:35 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 20:16 christophe
2008-08-12 18:57 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:54 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:58 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 18:41 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:46 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 18:55 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-12 18:38 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:36 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:04 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:21 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 18:25 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 15:34 A Soare
2008-08-12 15:59 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 13:51 A Soare
2008-08-12 13:37 A Soare
2008-08-12 13:50 ` martin rudalics
2008-08-12 17:16 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-12 14:02 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 14:54 ` Paul R
2008-08-12 18:37 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-12 19:16 ` Óscar Fuentes
2008-08-12 19:41 ` Paul R
2008-08-12 13:11 A Soare
2008-08-12 13:20 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-12 15:54 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-13 6:26 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-13 7:05 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-12 13:24 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 12:21 A Soare
2008-08-12 12:33 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 13:42 ` Michael Ekstrand
2008-08-13 6:27 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-13 7:14 ` Alex Ott
2008-08-12 14:45 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-12 14:56 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 16:47 ` Drew Adams
2008-08-13 20:20 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 18:34 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-05 2:53 dhruva
2008-08-05 4:43 ` tomas
2008-08-05 21:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-07-31 9:54 dhruva
2008-07-31 22:01 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-30 9:58 dhruva
2008-07-31 1:59 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-31 9:30 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-07-31 22:01 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-01 14:15 ` Frank Schmitt
2008-08-01 14:51 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-02 5:12 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-02 7:20 ` Frank Schmitt
2008-08-03 1:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 11:38 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-03 22:42 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 23:16 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-04 15:55 ` Davi Leal
2008-08-05 21:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 4:48 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-12 7:30 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-12 15:37 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-12 10:32 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 16:08 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-13 20:20 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 13:48 ` Nic
2008-08-03 22:42 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-01 15:31 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-02 5:12 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-02 17:12 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-02 23:46 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-03 1:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 18:01 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-04 15:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 4:24 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-12 10:32 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 16:12 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-03 1:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 17:51 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-04 15:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-04 19:08 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-05 8:05 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-01 17:39 ` Davi Leal
2008-08-02 5:12 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-14 15:07 Chong Yidong
2008-07-17 0:27 ` Juri Linkov
2008-07-17 6:41 ` David Kastrup
2008-07-21 4:49 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-21 8:06 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-07-21 13:32 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-21 14:19 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-07-23 20:52 ` Michael Albinus
2008-07-23 21:42 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-26 7:39 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-26 21:33 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-27 3:22 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-27 17:14 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-27 19:14 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-28 21:46 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-29 3:12 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-30 3:47 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-30 17:33 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-28 13:43 ` Juri Linkov
2008-07-28 14:10 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-28 14:33 ` Juri Linkov
2008-07-29 17:11 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-29 17:54 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-07-29 15:21 ` Roland Winkler
2008-08-02 17:34 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-09 18:29 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-09 18:34 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-09 19:06 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-31 2:10 ` Bastien
2008-07-31 2:43 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-31 8:06 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-01 2:53 ` Bastien
2008-08-01 19:26 ` Jay Belanger
2008-08-01 19:32 ` Chong Yidong
2008-08-02 16:12 ` Jay Belanger
2008-08-02 4:08 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-02 17:30 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-05 4:04 ` Bill Wohler
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=48B5EFC6.5070102@emf.net \
--to=lord@emf.net \
--cc=bob@rattlesnake.com \
--cc=emacs-devel@gnu.org \
--cc=lennart.borgman@gmail.com \
--cc=rms@gnu.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
Code repositories for project(s) associated with this external index
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.