As a community, we may have differing points of view on copyrights, and patents in other fields, but "we don't take kindly to software patents 'round here", as much as I can tell.
If all it takes is two days to dream up an answer to something, you can rest assured that other experts in the same situation will likely come up with a similar solution. You shouldn't get the rights to that solution for 10 years just because you thought it up. If you shared it, you would expect people will code it up, and probably congratulate them for doing that hard work.
I have no intention of arguing in favor of software patents. I'm merely trying to create some understanding.
My idea is that coming up with a good design is as much work, and requires as much expertise, as coming up with a good algorithm. To me, viewing it like that makes the feeling of 'being ripped off' much easier to empathize with. Which is not the same as agreeing that that is indeed the case.
When I said I disagree with
People argue you aren't being ripped off: after all, if
someone can do that in so little time, "you haven't really
invented or created anything (substantive)".
I didn't mean I disagreed with "not being ripped of" (and I certainly didn't mean: and the government should protect you against it). I disagreed that "you haven't really invented or created anything (substantive)". Many arguments depend on the implicit assumption that 'something that requires little time/work cannot be worth much'. That rather unfairly adds insult to injury.
If supporting software patents is something you can't say here (and it seems very much like it is), then we are weaker community because of it. Even if software patents are in fact terrible.
He can say it as much as he wants, I'm just explaining that it's a bad analogy if he wants to attract the sympathies of developers, because software patents are something that many developers, even those who aren't Richard Stallman types, really dislike.
I didn't associated the post with software patents at all - it's quite a good analogy. The point was that copying someone's work is relatively easy if you have a solid starting point (screenshots of a design, description of the algoritm, etc.), and it's unfair to say the design/development/invention process is trivial if it's easy to clone.
Implementation is usually the easy part. It's figuring out what needs to be implemented that takes the real skill. It's like the plumber that charges you $200 to turn a screw 1/4 turn. Of course you could have turned the screw yourself, but would you have known which one to turn and by how much (and do so without spending six hours researching different models of garbage disposal)?
You're arguing for software patents, basically.
As a community, we may have differing points of view on copyrights, and patents in other fields, but "we don't take kindly to software patents 'round here", as much as I can tell.
If all it takes is two days to dream up an answer to something, you can rest assured that other experts in the same situation will likely come up with a similar solution. You shouldn't get the rights to that solution for 10 years just because you thought it up. If you shared it, you would expect people will code it up, and probably congratulate them for doing that hard work.