Post by @XiJinpingStanAccount@lemmy.ml

2026-11-11 19:30 UTC

I disagree fundamentally. Just because you came up with an idea first does not mean you should be the sole person able to use said idea. All this does is hamper the progress of civilization. You are under no obligation to tell others how you did something, but if they also figure out how to do it then the law should not shield you from competition and people making your thing cheaper. This is especially true in the case of software where its infinitely copyable at near 0 cost. I’ve made things before. I’ve never tried to make a profit off of those things. Despite being broke myself. Because I see it as simply extortion to withhold something in exchange for money. The only way I’d ever monetize something digital is to give it out for free and ask for donations if people feel like it and it helps them. Something physical is slightly different as it costs money to make more of them, but I still disagree with the idea that you’d be able to ban others from using a technology just because you happened to patent it first.

Replies (3)

@anhopki1@lemmy.ml 2026-11-11 20:00

I only disagreed with forcing all software to be open source. I believe that while copyrighting your code is fine, I agree with you on the patenting thing. You shouldn’t be able to patent software and sue anyone if they reverse engineer it. I do agree with you on this part. However, yes you should be able to have the freedom to choose if you want to do the right thing, make it open source, or the wrong thing, make it proprietary. Yes keeping this freedom slows innovation. It also gives people who make an idea more of a choice rather than being forced to do one thing.

Open ##5520438
@hperrin@lemmy.ca 2026-11-12 02:34

You’re a big fan of monopolies, aren’t you?

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@hperrin@lemmy.ca 2026-11-12 02:43

Do you realize how much work it takes to make that infinitely copyable software though? Like, yes, it would be super awesome if all software was open source, but if it were, I would probably be working in finance instead. You see it as extortion to withhold something for money? So all labor should be free? Everything should be free? I should be able to just go set up shop in the Empire State Building like I own the place? Or, is that one of those slightly different things? Maybe just the labor of the construction workers should have been free.

Open ##5521813