Re: Draft of letter to Walnut Creek

Steve Summit (scs@eskimo.com)
Tue, 13 Dec 1994 13:41:04 -0800

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In <CMM.0.90.4.787343942.twpierce@quads.uchicago.edu>, Tim Pierce wrote:
> Eric Raymond wrote:
>> And control is the key issue here. We do not propose to hold up Walnut
>> Creek for royalties; we recognize that the economics of the situation
>> would make that unreasonable. Walnut Creek's offer of a free CD-ROM to
>> every author who requests one would be fitting compensation, if compensation
>> were our sticking-point. It is not.
>
> I recommend emphasizing and double-underlining this point.
> In fact, rewrite the draft to revolve around it.

Well, yes and no. I do *not* view the offer of a free copy to
"contributors" as compensation. (My darker and more paranoid
side wonders if it's not legally foolish to accept such
"compensation.") To me, the free copy is either an insult (it's
worth a few minutes of the hundreds of hours of my time I've put
into the comp.lang.c FAQ list), or a bribe, to try to make me
feel good and overlook and maybe not complain about the ethical
perils with which the republishing operation is riddled.

In other words, in this case, if I'm going to grant permission to
republish, it's because I don't mind not being compensated at all.

(By the way, though I complain that the free CD is a
near-worthless token, I also understand that Walnut Creek
couldn't afford to pay real royalties, but what that says to me
is that a CD-ROM like that just might not be a tenable
proposition. Just because you can have an idea doesn't mean it
has to be implementable, or profitable, or ethical, or any
combination of these.)

Steve Summit
scs@eskimo.com

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