RAND Licensing

    I am appalled by yet another political/corporate legalistic ploy to
literally destroy the open market!  That's right, I said destroy the
open market!!!  Shame on the all of you who took your precious time in
this world to pen this double-speak.  Obviously, you feel no pride in
your own obtuse and little known "Recommendation" already in "Working
Draft" progress. If you had, you wouldn't have felt the need to try and
bury it.  Nor, would you have skipped your own outline of how a
Recommendation comes about.  The whole thing smells bad.
    I admit I walk around in a mostly near-sighted fashion, based on
personal priorities but, not even I am this myopic and I'm not alone.
Many others, have a clear understanding of what a monopoly is and what
kind of damage a monopoly can do and has done to not only small
businesses but, large corporations, as well as national and
international finances.  And you would put supposedly neutral standards
into their hands?
    Let me begin with some corporate monopoly realities and why we must
do everything in our power to keep the balance and NEVER allow the
"Standards" to be a purchased item.  So far, the Software Industry and
much of the Hardware Industry has avoided
Unionization via corporate perks and this has allowed them to become a
monstrously huge monopoly.  But, I'm guessing when the workers finally
wake up and realize they have to sell their sealy-posture-pedics just to
survive, they'll want a Union and the Union WILL come in.
    One begins to see a strange analogy between "The Matrix" and the way
large corporations of today operate.  When you are the only business in
town or the biggest business, it begins not to matter what you do.
Large businesses tend to think anything and everything can be bought for
a price, including you and your rights.  Allowing them to control any
standards is like giving them your life!  There will come a time when
who, other than they, will be able to meet the standards that they
write?  Is that what you worked so hard for all of your life?  Is this
going to make it easier for your children to succeed or compete?
    So many of us have worked countless hours of overtime w/o seeing a
dime for it, eating corporate pizza on Friday nights, thinking it was
steak.  Well, I'm here to tell you that this is not the way it's going
to be!  Maybe you'll get away with this "Standardization" now, and if
you do, shame on the W3C for allowing you to do so but, in the long run,
you will be absolutely killing your own R&D, along with everybody elses,
by backing up the already poor patent laws you helped create.
    You know innovation employs the consumer and you want to rule
innovation!  Innovation comes from competition.  Innovation raises it's
little head in the most un-corporate and inconvienient places.
Innovation comes from need.  Innovation comes from having the freedom to
think, utilize and build upon the knowledge of countless others who have
come before you.  It comes from sharing knowledge.  In this country, you
don't have to be associated with a large corporation or have a degree
from MIT to come up with a great idea and implement it.  Why are you
working so hard to change that?  Would you widen the gap and the chances
between the haves and the havenots?
    Do you know one of the reasons why America is great?  America is
great because an employee is free to work at one corporation
and then turn around and work for the competition without skipping a
beat. That employee brings his knowledge with him and nobody can take
that away.  The new company may gain from the previous company's
instruction and OJT but, the door swings both ways. Everybody gains from
the swinging door arrangement.  Still, some would say this is bad for
business. (What the large corporations of today desire so badly is a
door that swings one way only, their way.)  Bad for business?  Why, it's
one of the founding principles of the Open Market.  It is the very thing
that helped to create these very same large corporations who are now,
through passing things like the DMCA, CTEA and this RAND, are dead set
at destroying YOUR rights.  All  in order to keep YOU from becoming
their competition.  But hey, if you think you'd like to try and swallow
down some Microsoft bread along with your Microsoft water while you read
your Microsoft news  please, let this bad license model (i.e. the RAND
model) based on bad patent laws slip by.
    Why support an "Open Market" as opposed to a "Monopoly"?
Obviously, the Open Market spurs inovation and invention but,
looking back at history tells the real story.  Back in the '30s through
the '60s, when England favored the Apprenticeship plan over the Open
Market scenerio.  It was their thought the employee would work at the
same job, for the same business, for the rest of his working life.  But,
if that worker were to quit his position or be fired or, even laid off ,
he would not be able to find gainful employment in that field again
because he had signed his loyalty over to one company.  He would be
drummed out of the business.  The thought was the employee would give
all the business secrets away if he worked for someone else.  Thus, he
would be doomed to find another vocation.  Innovation was absolutely
stagnant!  England was in a world of hurt.  If we support monopolies, we
will find ourselves in the very same situation as the afore mentioned
apprentice but for slightly different reasons.
    Aside from the above, monopolies get away with corporate
immoralities because they can (i.e. long hours w/o pay for hourly
employees, firing employees w/o explanation, hiring of family members,
favoritism, overseas sweatshops, pollution, some things we would never
stand for if we had any say in it etc...)   Isn't it hard enough to make
a living as it is?
    That's why I say, one of these days, the Union or, the Labor Force
if you prefer,  is going to come strolling along and they are going to
be knocking loudly at your corporate monopoly, profit gouging door.
Like it or not, they are going to be your new partner/s.  They are going
to tell you what you can and can not do in your own corporation, not to
torture you but because you could not run a business with any sort of
business ethic or morality yourselves.  Because you thought of nothing
more than the bottom line, as opposed to the future.  It will not matter
where you go on this planet, you will be held responsible.  Why?
Because you are trying to control the standards, the source and all
innovation.  And quite frankly, there are some things big money and
political clout can't control, for long anyway.

--
rem

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 17:59:55 UTC