[MUD-Dev] Re: My vision for DevMUD

[ApplePiMan at aol.com]

At 11/4/98 6:39 AM James Wilson (jwilson at rochester.rr.com) altered the 
fabric of reality by uttering:

>sorry, you're missing the point here. PD makes it possible for a commercial
>entity to fork my code, by making some super modifications and not releasing
>them in source form. Then the free version of my code is killed by the
>commercial version. This is the central reason why people use Gnu-style
>licenses.

I know I said I'd hush on this issue... but I'm not gonna. =)

I don't see the above happening. I don't think anyone could sell enough 
copies of the super-modified code to constitute a decent vertical market. 
The closest I could see happening is that someone might set up a 
successful commercial MUD using DevMUD as the base and then sell 
franchises; but I would be *extremely* shocked if *that* succeeded, 
either. 

In by some fluke it happened, I think we have enough talent on this list 
to fork the code right back. And besides, it wouldn't take a commercial 
entity to do that to you: a very talented individual could fork your code 
as well (although the individual might not profit monetarily from the 
code, your authority over his modified "replacement" version is gone 
nonetheless). In any case, the pre-modified version of the code (your 
version) is still available to any and all who chose to use it for 
whatever reason (lack of funds, "purity", or whatever), and to you, as 
well, to "out-super-modify" the forker.

Lest anyone is doubting my motives for promoting PD (since I *am* 
representative of a commercial entity), let me say that what I intend to 
do is build a commercial MUD-like service on top of DevCore. Yes, the 
modules (many of them, at least) that comprise that service will be 
proprietary to my company and *not* contributed back to the project. No, 
I will not be distributing those modules in any form (paid or otherwise) 
for *any* usage outside the limited framework of my proprietary 
commercial service. I can't see anyone taking any deeper commercial 
interest in DevMUD, nor can I see how that constitutes any threat to the 
health and well-being of the project.

>>>I assume I'm probably a bit further to the left than the norm, tho... 
>>>(leftmost
>>>being RMS, rightmost being Bill).
>
>>As with most things, I tend to be centrist (though in this one issue I 
>>appear to be left of you
>
>to the right, actually, according to my intended usage.

No matter how you look at it, espousing that something be the communal 
property of all citizens of Earth is *not* to the right of espousing 
private ownership of said property. =)

-Rick.


---------------------------------------------------------
Rick Buck, President and CEO  <mailto:rlb at big-i.com>
Beyond Infinity Games, Inc.
See you in The Metaverse! <http://www.big-i.com>