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RMS says Creative Commons Unacceptable
Mr A Coward writes "Richard Stallman has stated in an interview that he no longer supports Creative Commons licenses. In the interview carried on LinuxP2P.com, and which is largely about the P2P and DRM issues, Stallman ends by saying: 'I no longer endorse Creative Commons. I cannot endorse Creative Commons as a whole, because some of its licenses are unacceptable.' He suggests instead using the GPL for creative works." The crux of his argument is that, since he disagrees with some of the CC licenses, and people tend to lump them all together, he feels compelled to reject them all. What's your take? Are some Creative Commons licenses worth using, even if others aren't?
Sure they have.
And yet, we have developed more knowledge of science and engineering in the past few years than in the few centuries before them. Somehow, despite most people working within the framework of copyright, or advances in technology and communications still allow ideas to be shared and progress to be made. More people's art reaches more people in the audience today than at any time in human history, and the cost of the art is a few $CURRENCY_UNITS to the common man, and not a significant investment to commission a work by someone in the upper classes. Those nations that have strong copyright and patent laws have developed far beyond those that make at most a token effort, while the latter commonly derive a significant part of their economic value from a black market in trading the former's work, rather than creating work of a similar calibre on their own.
Really, this whole "IP doesn't do any good" idea is tired. Give it up already. Anyone who wasn't completely brainwashed by Slashbot groupthink and the preachings of delusional evangelists like RMS could see that IP has brought many benefits in recent years. Sure, the system isn't perfect. Sure, it's widely abused (by both sides) in certain areas. But on balance, it's still a huge net plus, and no-one (including RMS) has yet produced even a plausible alternative worth trying. Get back to us when you've got an idea that can pay the rent for everyone who currently develops useful or entertaining works, not just a tiny number of people who are in a highly visible vanguard working on highly visible projects with a wide market and with little competition in the consultancy/training/customisation market.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
What software?
If you look at his personal list of accomplishments to software, they are pretty scarce. He didn't write a lot of the stuff that GNU et. al. has put out. In fact, one of the only things I know he wrote was a program which basically did:He hasn't contributed much. Thanks for the GPL V2, but please go away.
~W
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