linuxaudio.org

Paul Davis wrote:

quoted text
> On Mon, 2006-07-03 at 02:26 +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:

>> If they really want to get people to give money then they should just

>> make it so that you have to pay or contribute code/time for a while to

>> get access to the newest downloads from their site. Keep the stable

>> version far enough behind the development version that people will pay

>> to get the newest code base.

>

> its really rather amusing to see people speculating on what the

> developers of LS could or could not do, when the actual relevant

> "encounter" with "commercial interests" has *already* happened. it did

> not go well. it can be tempting to imagine that we understand the

> motivations of commercial organizations and can therefore offer them

> appropriate carrots. don't be so confident of this. both the LS

> developers and myself are under the terms of an NDA, so it is not

> possible to discuss with any relevant detail precisely what happened.

> but it was nasty, it was unpleasant and as i've said before, it would be

> better for people to not make so many assumptions about their ability to

> guess at what might or might happen when a commercial company shows

> interest in a tool like LS.

> 

Sorry Paul,
You have mentioned this in the past. I didn't mean to drag up those

memories. It completely slipped my mind that something funky had gone on

with LS.
On saying that though it really is a bummer that the NDA prevents

certain people from discussing the valuable knowledge learned from that

encounter.
It's still entirely legal for others to speculate though... If we ask

questions and you don't answer then maybe that's legal too...
It seems to me that some company tried to use the work done by the LS

team without giving anything/much in return. The strange appearance of

the modification to the GPL in the LS README seems like a direct

response to the situation that occured when things didn't work out for

the LS team with regards to this mystery company.
History provides plenty of evidence of companies/business people taking,

using and abusing and not giving in return. It seems strange that the LS

team would choose to work under the GPL and then be surprised if someone

tried to take advantage of them. However it is perfectly reasonable for

that to have severe emotional impact when so much hard work is

effectively "stolen" by greedy "business" people.
It reminds me of the 6 years I have spent working in Asia. Everything I

have done for free is ripped off by others who can't come up with their

own ideas. Now I *only* do things for fun or money up front.
Life is too damn short to let the bastards of this world abuse my

time/energy/motivation.
Hence why I enjoy working with Linux Audio. Where the real bastards are

few and far between.
Cheers.
--

Patrick Shirkey - Boost Hardware Ltd.

Http://www.boosthardware.com

Http://lau.linuxaudio.org - The Linux Audio Users guide

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"Anything your mind can see you can manifest physically, then it will

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