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Date:	Fri, 1 Aug 2003 07:09:00 PDT7
From:	"Lynn H. Maxson" <lmaxson@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	< "scoug-programming@scoug.com" > scoug-programming@scoug.com >
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: Re: Warpstock 2003 Presentation

Content Type: text/plain

"...I don't know the PM API but apparently there's something
called a "container" which the program loads with information
and then instructs PM to display. Well, PM fails to do this on
my 1600x1200 monitor when running Relish full-screen and
restoring the window from a minimized state. ..."

Peter,

While this is only one of the several items in your adventures
with Relish it does point out what happens when closed
source support ceases. In this instance you must discover and
use a workaround to overcome an error which its owner, IBM,
will not fix.

I have no argument per se with closed source vendors or with
their decisions to cease further support or maintenance. I
understand for-profit business. Ceasing of support offers one
means of protecting "their" investment. I happen to believe
that users should also have a means of protecting "their"
investment when their primary support ceases.

Somehow the lawyers came up with the software licensing
agreement where what you paid for was not a product itself,
but only its use. Thus technically you cannot claim ownership
for any copy thereof. In short you don't actually buy
software. It's simply a catalyst for its use, all rights to which
remain with its vendor.

So we remain quite correctly OS/2 users, not owners. Since
IBM's gradual withdrawal of OS/2 support we have borne the
consequences. Open source with its public ownership which in
effect transfers to each individual user changes this equation.
With ownership you can opt for alternate maintenance
sources. You can not only detect an error, but you can also
have it corrected.

Thus open source offers "freedoms" not available with closed
source and its standard software "use" licensing. As with any
freedom we collectively acquire a responsibility for its
continuance through participation. Otherwise it has no
meaning.

We can make exercising that responsibility harder or easier
through the maintenance tools. We can make it so hard so
that increasingly fewer attempt maintenance or so easy that
increasingly more will participate. Clearly we want to
increase participation to have more people engaged in
actively maintaining a freedom. So we investigate ways of
making that possible. That's part of what we are doing in the
current Programming SIG effort.

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