On Dec 11, 2007, at 13:05, Paul Lussier wrote: > Well, yes. But economics is not at the forefront of the movement. It > is not overly concerned with shifting economies or making a huge > economic change or statement.
I think this is one of those blind-men-and-the-elephant things - FLOSS is what you take from it, or want it to be, for most people. I happen to think it's a nexus of software development, economics, and game theory, and also an emergent property of the Internet. Most of my clients get interested in it for the price, which is definitely an economic factor, and I do think that many participants are keen on freeing those who are being oppressed by the economic regimes which managed to monopolize the market for a couple decades (to David's point). I do strongly agree with your assessment of FLOSS as being dependent on strong property rights, though I'd also allow that many adherents would rather see intellectual property go away and simply use the existing system as a convenience. The big problem with Communism is that humans are largely incompatible. I heard a reading recently of the address at the first Thanksgiving (that we remember annually, supposedly), which was basically a rant against the failings of their attempt at Communism that lead to apathy and starvation, and their Thanks that they'd since embraced the principles of Locke and had so much surplus now that people were rewarded for their labor that they were doing a fine trade with the Indians. So, as to your original point, "a group of computer hackers, neocommunists and entrepreneurs" is probably true - there are probably Gypsies, Zoroastrians, Masons, Mormons, Vegetarians, and Elevator Mechanics working on FLOSS too, but that hardly matters. So, along those lines, singling out neocommunists is likely an attempt at Guilt by Association. And Netflix streaming video only works on IE. Coincidence? ;) -Bill ----- Bill McGonigle, Owner Work: 603.448.4440 BFC Computing, LLC Home: 603.448.1668 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 603.252.2606 http://www.bfccomputing.com/ Page: 603.442.1833 Blog: http://blog.bfccomputing.com/ VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
