I think the most important lesson to learn from free software is that after people have enough money to put food on the table they're willing to put time into something with no monetary benefit

Further, this little free software experiment has shown we're more than capable of innovation and creation without profit motive

@jordyd
tired: innovation and creation can happen without the profit motive
wired: only without the profit motive can innovation and creation happen

@a_breakin_glass Honestly though. Patents, copyright, etc, are just holding us back

@jordyd @a_breakin_glass I don't know about "etc", I like trademarks and regional designations. I like laws against deceiving consumers. And copyright would be ok if it had a much shorter duration, say, ten years.

Patents can also be awesome. I always cite the Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal shoes patent as patents working as intended: a magician revealing his tricks instead of taking them to the grave.

I don't think we need to completely get rid of copyright and patents, just fix them.

@JordiGH @a_breakin_glass @jordyd Regional designations as in the DVD region lock nonsense or something else?

@duck57 @jordyd @a_breakin_glass No, they're also called "appelations of origin" or "geographical indication". It's like how Gruyère cheese can only be called that if it comes from Switzerland. Kind of like trademarks, but not quite the same thing.

It's one of the things that WIPO also regulates, part of the "etc" when people don't really think about what "IP" means.