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Story: Gates: Restricting IP rights is tantamount to communism
Posted by: Brent Roberts (Monday 10 January 2005, 9:45 AM)
Gates is precisely correct: communism operates by the abolition of property rights. It failed (and will always fail) becuase of this. Abolishing IP rights does for the intellectual world what communist Russia did to the physcial world (I will remind you that 12 million people died on collectivized farms in that country). Men need to have the right to dispose of the product of their effort (whether intellectual or otherwise) in order to survive. The degree to which these rights are erroded is the degree to which life is made more difficult. Our rights are protected here (for hte most part) which is why we are the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen. If US "greed" actually did not lead to innovation, then why has not a single company been able to create a product superior to Microsfot Office? I run pure linux on my laptop (for fun), and OpenOffice.org (lacking MUCH of hte functionality provided by Word) just erased an entire file one which I was working due to a bug. Open source is a fun avenue to explore new technological ideas, but without the backing of companies who have their IP rights protected, it will go nowhere.
Full Talkback thread
Story: Gates: Restricting IP rights is tantamount to communism
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The magic word "communism" always seems to be used... Arthur B. -
Are we suddenly back in the 1950s? Perhaps Mr... Chris Rankin -
I agree with Arthur B.
Mr Gates should read... Micheal H
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Gates is precisely correct: communism operat... Brent Roberts -
Confusion between IP rights and copyrigh... Steve B -
Brent Roberts is wrong.
"Gates is precis... Kevin Peacock
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There can be so such 'rights' which... Brent Roberts -
Brent. Sigh. Communism has not... Arthur B.
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If a requisite of "skills, kno... Brent Roberts
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Brent. I would like to recomme... Arthur B.
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An interesting debate Brent, b... Kevin Peacock
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Lets stick with the mousetrap... Brent Roberts
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A good reply Arthur.
Brent, I... Kevin Peacock
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Hi Brent, what OO version are you using... ricardo mardisich
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Ricardo – I'm using version 1.1.1.... Brent Roberts
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Oh bugger off, the world's a better place with win... samuel
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Samuel,
Replying to you in the same vein as y... Andy
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Not much ammunition left for Mr Gates.
I... Anonymous
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The world Mr Gates wants to see has far more in co... Kevin Peacock
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I see he's had to resort to name-calling again.
So... Steve J
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World is much worse off thanks to MS and IBM... Steve B
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I think that Gates is unwanted and unnee... NJ
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Kevin. Well said. Very well said.
B... Arthur B.
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"Its eyes ever set on the competition, Microsoft w... Ricardo Mardisich
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Microsoft Litigation Resource Page
"the world... ricardo mardisich
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Ricardo, thanks for your comment. We wou... Matt Loney
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Beside the fact that this is nothing more than FUD... BURNAND Patrick
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I find Bill Gates comments on mesh networking inte... Andy Coney
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In a similar discussion on IP rights on a dif... Mark Jones
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Anonymous
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