HLS, July 3, 2002

free, open, shared, proprietary how’s a girl to choose?

Proprietary

Open or Free +

Proprietary machine

Open or Free machineplans +

Proprietary binary

Open or Free binarysource +

Proprietary

Open or Free machineplans +

Proprietary

Open or Free machineplans +

with proprietary, society gets the chicken;

with open/free, society gets the chicken and the recipe

free open shared proprietary

restrictions

open free shared proprietary restrictions

public domain open free shared proprietary restrictions

public domain open free shared proprietary restrictions © protected

what are the restrictions?

public domain: none

public domain: code + no restrictions

proprietary: all

proprietary: no code + tons

open: code + slight

shared: code + lots

free: code + GPL

GPL?

copyleft

copyleft: “share and share alike”

copyleft: give on the same terms that you took

advantages

1. Zero price

1. Zero price 2. Good code

1. Zero price 2. Good code 3. Teaching others

1. Zero price 2. Good code 3. Teaching others 4. Strategic behavior

1. Zero price 2. Good code 3. Teaching others 4. Strategic behavior 5. Destroy IP

openfreesharedprop “free”y good teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yy good teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yym good teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy good teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goody teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyy teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyy teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teach strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall some strat-egy destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy destroy

“strategic behavior”

depends on control

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y never destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y nevery, hard destroy

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y nevery, hardy destroy

“destroy IP”

“viral”

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y nevery, hardy destroyn

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y nevery, hardy destroynn

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y nevery, hardy destroyn?n

openfreesharedprop “free”yymy goodyyyy teachall somenone strat-egy unlikel y nevery, hardy destroyn??n

Which prefer?

Who’s the we?

Gov’t: two gains

Gov’t: (1) transparency

Gov’t: e.g.: Carnivore

Gov’t: (2) externality

Should we choose?

rich ecology

ecological threats:

software patents

If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete stand-still today.

The solution... is patent exchanges... and patenting as much as we can.... A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high: Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors.

Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors.

patents

BAD