Fwd: Copyleft: The Great Giveaway

[Even Flood]

Folks

 From the New Scientist - this might be of interest?

>From: New Scientist <reedscienc at ProcessRequest.com>
>
>Good ideas are worth money, so why are people giving them away for
>free? Join our experiment to find out.
>
>This week, New Scientist is doing something no other mainstream
>magazine has - publishing an article under what's known as a
>"copyleft".
>
>We're helping test one of the boldest ideas of our time. The outcome
>is up to you. To read the article, go to
>www.newscientist.com/hottopics/copyleft on NewScientist.com. There,
>you can provide feedback, copy the article, redistribute it, modify
>or reissue it, without worrying that you've violated our copyright.
>
>The article itself is about an idealistic movement called "open
>sourcing", which is all about free circulation of knowledge - an
>emerging alternative to growing corporate power and restrictive
>property rights. Open source is covered by a special licence called
>the copyleft, which grants as much freedom as possible, as long as
>you too release your version under the same copyleft terms and
>conditions.
>
>In software, open source is an undoubted success. Now some of its
>supporters are trying out its methods elsewhere. Already there's
>open source music, open source encyclopaedias, open source law, even
>open source soft drinks.
>
>We welcome your feedback on the concept, and input into the article
>itself. No-one's really sure what the benefits of this experiment
>will be, but if it works it could mean profound changes in
>publishing, technology, music, even consumer products.
>
>Kind regards
>
>Alun Anderson
>Editor-in-Chief
>New Scientist




Even Flood,  Senior Academic Librarian
RBT/Norwegian DIANE Center,
University Library of Trondheim,
N 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Phone: +47 73 59 51 62, Fax +47 73 59 60 97
http://www.ub.ntnu.no/diane/
"Come, and take choice of all my library, and so  beguile thy sorrow."
                                 (Shakespeare)