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0 pointsvertex-four5y ago0 comments

Copyright is a legal fiction - it doesn't exist except by force of the state, and there's plenty of evidence that it has a large variety of downsides. I think it's entirely reasonable to argue for alternative methods of providing benefit to society that don't rely on having the state threaten people for you.

Or, in other words - the default state of things is that copyright does not exist, not that it does. It's on copyright proponents to prove that we have a better world with it than without.

Great software developers already largely make their fortune doing bespoke work for clients with a need for it. So do great lawyers, great doctors, great system administrators, great technical writers, and so on. This isn't a new idea.

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barking5y ago

All software isn't line of business bespoke jobs for mega corp. Family business sometimes need software specific to their vertical market but can't afford to employ someone for a year to do it.

vertex-fourOP5y ago

Indeed, but who's making their fortune selling software to family businesses? If you're going to make "a fortune"... sell to people who have money. You can make a living though, quite happily. If there's a pile of small businesses which all need more-or-less the same software, set up a crowdfunding campaign and advertise it wherever they hang out. Sell a support contract. Sell a training course. When someone wants that one extra feature, quote them for it.

Or even better, grab some other people with knowledge of the domain and go find capital so you can do what the other businesses are doing, but better, because you're backed by deep knowledge of the software that runs your company and the other companies have no clue and no money.

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