Re: [Fsfe-uk] Academia

[Marc Eberhard]

On Tue, May 07, 2002 at 11:43:15AM +0100, Simon Waters wrote:
> Story on releasing free software at US Universities.
> 
> Anyone any experiences in the UK to share?

Well, didn't try it yet here. But from the general climate, it perfectly
fits the category of "cash in on whatever you can". I can only agree with
the article. If I wanted to release some code as free software, I would most
likely go down the "it's worthless for us" route.

This sounds odd, but there is a very simple reason for it: Time. I have to
do a lot of things at the same time, while the administration has all the
day to make my life harder. Thus, I have to develop, maintain and enhance
code at the same time while struggling with them to release it. They only
have to concentrate on keeping me from publishing it. I'm pretty convinced,
they would win.

On the other hand, if I classify code as "commercially worthless", they
can't argue against it, because they can't read and price source code. They
have to accept that and I save myself from a lot of trouble. Simple and
effective.

Bye,
Marc
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