Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Buying the rights to proprietary programs to free them

[Fabio Pesari]

Update: I contacted a popular indie game developer and asked him what he
thought about this idea.

He was already familiar with free software since he released one of his
lesser games under the GPL but still, he didn't answer.

His silence left me some time to think about this issue. I came to the
conclusion that there isn't the mindset yet for this kind of reasoning,
and such proposals can be considered even offensive by some developers.

I think some developers would feel more comfortable selling their code
to VCs and big companies than the users themselves, even if they got to
keep the copyright and to keep selling the programs.

The "secrecy" culture is very popular in some circles, especially game
development (but also audio, for things like VSTs, and the demoscene). I
honestly think that's the real problem, the idea that code (or, even
worse, ideas) can be "stolen", and above all the fear that someone else
could profit from it, even when they themselves aren't profiting from it
(freeware). If we focus our efforts of debunking that faulty logic, a
lot of developers will see the irrationality of proprietary software and
will embrace free software as a result.