Bill Gates apparently equates people who condemn the current U.S. copyright and patent systems with communists. That includes, naturally, those who support open-source software. In an interview, he’s quoted as saying:
“There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don’t think that those incentives should exist.”
Whee! Incentives, indeed. I suppose it’s hard to imagine that some people might want to do something (write a song, make a movie, create software) just for the sheer joy of it, without thought of the almighty dollar.
So, in a nod to Gates’ comments, I join my fellow open-source advocates (and, yes, those who condemn the state of the U.S. copyright and patent systems) in flying the red flag of communism. The backward “C” is for “copyleft”, as everyone knows.
