Re: CAD software for PCB engineering and routing

On 21/06/2008, Michelle Konzack <linux4michelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
[a long point-by-point reponse to something I wrote]

Michelle, I'm not sure how worthwhile it will be to repeat to you
arguments that I'm sure you have heard endless times before. I could
repeat those arguments, but I doubt you would be interested. You seem
to already be convinced those arguments are daft; that's fine. For
what I do, mathematics, the importance of source is evident: this is
how we do mathematics, sharing proof, method, and internals, this is
what mathematics *is*.

Engineers don't think this way, which is troubling, because engineers
often do mathematics too, and then I have to interface with their
habits that make my own job that much more difficult. My job is to
understand things, to improve them, and to explain to others how and
why things work. This is what a mathematician does. Lack of source and
legal hurdles to sharing knowledge are all obstacles for my job.

Money is not the issue. You keep alluding about how I want everything
gratis; this was never my claim. Source could very well be distributed
with money and you know that many companies do this now, just as many
other companies always did this before when computers were first
created. I am unconvinced that it's impossible to do so now.

NIH is a Mexican standoff[1]. All these companies holding lawsuits to
each other like double-barreled guns, reimplementing the same thing
over and over again, guarding their precious "intellectual property"
because they spent money on developing, and even if they're going to
make money using it internally, god forbid that another company
should have access to the same code that wouldn't cost them anything
to share.

I don't feel compelled to continue this argument... You seem to see
everything in terms of immediate results and money, both of which I
insist are nearsighted. As a whole, as a society, we would all be
better off in the long run without these obstacles to dissemination of
knowledge.

Best,
- Jordi G. H.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff


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