Actually, the taxpayer pays for this. I have never been charged for sending mail to nonexistent addresses (accidentally) or to the deceased (unfortunately).
Yes, closed source benefits software producers and those who sell software. They have made businesses out of it, they pay their mortgages with it, and their kids go to college on it.
It also employs a lot of programmers. Closed code needs many paid man hours to develop.
If I write code, writing it closed guarantees that I get paid what I think it's worth. Marx pointed out over a century ago that under the current system, it's very hard to stop me from taking "surplus profit," but I am worth more than a footnote in someone else's fix of my code, yes?
I unfortunately liked to program more than I wanted to pursue a Master's or a PhD in Computer Science, so I cannot teach for a living and create Open Source modules in my spare time. Closed code feeds me.
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Actually, the taxpayer pays for this. I have never been charged for sending mail to nonexistent addresses (accidentally) or to the deceased (unfortunately).
Yes, closed source benefits software producers and those who sell software. They have made businesses out of it, they pay their mortgages with it, and their kids go to college on it. It also employs a lot of programmers. Closed code needs many paid man hours to develop. If I write code, writing it closed guarantees that I get paid what I think it's worth. Marx pointed out over a century ago that under the current system, it's very hard to stop me from taking "surplus profit," but I am worth more than a footnote in someone else's fix of my code, yes? I unfortunately liked to program more than I wanted to pursue a Master's or a PhD in Computer Science, so I cannot teach for a living and create Open Source modules in my spare time. Closed code feeds me.