What Open Source Needs

[dsrtao]

Open Source doesn't really need this, but it would be cool.

Suppose the RIAA and the MPAA get their way, and they can leverage improperly copied 74 cent MP3 tracks into $1500 fines. Clearly, the BSA should go down the same road and get a nice fat multiplier on fines for using improperly copied software.

When the cost of being found out using slow, buggy Windows 7 is $200,000 per copy, who would risk using a legal copy, either?

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Take the actual value of a piece of open-source software. Say, 'less'. Probably a few hundred hours of work, at a middle-of-the-road programmers' salary of $80k, yields a development cost of $10,000 or so per copy*. More for larger programs, of course.

(* since the MPAA somehow believes that creating copies multiplies the fine.)