Gavriel State gav@transgaming.com writes:
Really, the economic problem in this licensing situation comes down to a question of accounting (most economic problems do). What value do you place on a contribution to the project, whether it is your own or someone else's?
The problem is that you are seeing this in economic terms. That's not how it works. The real value is not in the individual contributions, it's in the collaboration, where everybody works with everybody else on building the best possible Windows emulator.
Consider you are organizing a party with your friends: someone who has a large music collection will bring his CDs, some will cook something, others will spend time decorating the room, etc. What value do you place on each contribution? How many cakes do I have to bring to be allowed to listen to the music? That's not how it works. Everybody helps according to his time and ability, and then we all enjoy the party.
What you are doing is you come to the party, you eat and drink from what others have brought, but when people want some of your stuff you charge them for it. And when they complain you ask them to start charging for their stuff too, and transform the party into a shopping mall. Sorry, but for me that would take all the fun out of it.
If you want to join the party you are expected to participate according to your abilities. And yes, with your full-time programmers you can (and should) contribute more than people who just have a few hours a month to spend on it. That doesn't mean you are somehow entitled to get more fun out of the party than they do.
So far we have welcomed you to the party, even though you contributed much less than you could have; but the problem is that you are actually preventing others from enjoying the party, and this can't go on. So you can either start participating and sharing like everybody else, or you can stay home and cook your own dinner. But if you want to eat some of what I've brought, the only way is to join the party.
[Follow-ups to wine-party^H^H^H^H^Hlicense please]