From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,915d37e7b8e0ec69 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsread.com!news-xfer.newsread.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!newspeer2.se.telia.net!se.telia.net!masternews.telia.net.!newsc.telia.net.POSTED!not-for-mail From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Bj=F6rn_Persson?= User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7-1.1.fc4 (X11/20050929) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: and visual library once again References: <3a96f.148768$dP1.506336@newsc.telia.net> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 20:51:48 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 217.209.116.179 X-Complaints-To: abuse@telia.com X-Trace: newsc.telia.net 1130273508 217.209.116.179 (Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:51:48 CEST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:51:48 CEST Organization: Telia Internet Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:5936 Date: 2005-10-25T20:51:48+00:00 List-Id: tmoran@acm.org wrote: >>What definition of "organization" are you using if you can say that Red >>Hat is a large organization but Microsoft isn't? > > Nobody said either of those things. I'll explain my reasoning. You wrote the following: > The economists point out that to the extent programs are "public goods" > the market will undersupply them, leaving it to government or other > organizations not guided by the market to pay programmers. You divided producers of software into two categories: category A, "the market", and category B, "government or other organizations not guided by the market". You also spoke of programs that are "public goods". As you wrote that in response to Steve's words about GPL'd programs, you obviously meant "public goods" to mean free software. You claimed that category A will not supply free software, that only category B will pay programmers to produce free software. Red Hat is a company that pays programmers to produce free software, so by that criterion it fits in category B. It can clearly not be in category A, because supplying free software is the heart of its business. As Red Hat isn't a government agency I have to conclude that it's an "other organization not guided by the market". As an example from category A, someone who produces software but not free software, I chose Microsoft. So, surprised that Red Hat isn't part of the market and knowing that there are several differences between Red Hat and Microsoft, I ask: Which difference causes Red Hat to be classified as an "organization not guided by the market" and Microsoft as part of "the market", and what definitions of "organization" and "market" make that possible? Or would you place Microsoft in category B also, and if so, will you please mention an example from category A? -- Bj�rn Persson PGP key A88682FD omb jor ers @sv ge. r o.b n.p son eri nu