[kwlug-disc] Wordpress themes must be GPL

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 1:05 AM, unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca> wrote:

> Raul Suarez wrote, On 07/25/2010 11:21 PM:
>
>  --- On Sun, 7/25/10, Chris Frey <cdfrey at foursquare.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Doesn't this same problem exist for the poor gas attendant, waitress,
>>> store clerk, fast food employee, etc?  Why should FLOSS
>>>  developers, or any developer, get a free pass?
>>>
>>
>> Or a closer simile: Why should it be different than corporate
>> developers that get paid a salary. Royalties? hu?
>>
>
> They should.
>
> The counter arguments are that they were paid, and the necessary equipment
> provided.


The equipment in the past were mainframes costing millions.

Nowadays, it is a $579 laptop, and a $50 a month internet connection.

Why does the corporation own the copyright again? Because the developer
traded their rights for a fixed salary and some benefits.

That worked well when there was loyalty from the corporation towards its
employees, and everyone retired with a gold watch.

Now that there is no loyalty, it is just the same as being under contract,
but
not with a defined term.

Sorry, I am digressing ...

And, much like a researcher's work from which a company seeks a patent.
>

Same dynamic, although inventions were usually hard to build and companies
could do them better than individuals.

With software, it is no longer hard.

What is hard is marketing and selling the product for an individual.

With sites like elance, oDesk, the middleman is being cut off the equation
more and more these days for many types of software projects (not all) ...

An equally valid example - an author writes a book. And typically, gets a
> royalty. Yet, for technical manuals, this doesn't typically seem to be the
> case.
>
> All of which is neither here nor there.
>
> The question was: how does a (typical?) (GPL?) developer create a
> continuous revenue stream rather than having to continuously work?


Do pop stars have that luxury? Make a song and get a continuous revenue
stream?
Sort of, but not really. They are under contract by the labels, who have
them do more
and more all the time, and then they also have to tour, do TV interviews,
and other publicity events.

Do authors have that luxury? Look at a publishers' contract and you will see
that it is not the case either. They give you a meager down payment on
royalties, and unless you write a Best Seller, you don't see much in the way
of income from the book.

Do actors have that luxury? Again, if you are a big box big name actor, you
get a share of the gross revenue of the movie you are starring, but all
other actors in the movie get a share of profit, and due to Hollywood
Accounting they never see a dime.

See a pattern here? Like Raul said, lottery is it ...
When artists
-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
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