Need for change
The effects of allowing patents can be seen in the example of AC Vs DC wars in the US in 1880-90. It started with Edisons discovery of electric bulbs, and then several inventions he made. We all know that. But the sinister part of this seemingly altruistic scientific landscape was the patenting part. We allowed the inventor to decide on the use of the invention in a way he deemed it fit. We see that in the conflict between Edison and Tesla promoting their own patented electricity distribution mechanisms in the US. In my opinion, giving an inventor exclusive rights to decide how his invention should be used by the rest of the mankind is inefficient and goes against the good of the humanity. Although we should appreciate and reward the inventors for the inventions they make, but the inventions can not be a monopoly and patents should not be used to deter others from using similiar methods in their work. Knowledge is a collective phenomenon. If someone invents something in one part of the world, then anyone in any other part of the world may come up with the same idea independent of the first person who declared it. It is natural. You can not monopolize a thought, an idea. And it is ugly to force others not to use the same thought or idea because someone else has pronounced it earlier and got his idea patented.
Things got drastically ominous when people start patenting software ideas. If anything that should not be patented is a software I think, for the benefit of the larger mankind.
What has the patenting software produced is behemoths like Microsoft, who fleece every human being on earth through their policy of charging for every version of their software. What good does it make to the mankind by making one person, Bill Gates, owning 100s of Billions if dollors as his personal wealth, and each person who owns a computer having to shell out as much money for the minimum basic software as much he has spend to buy the computer hardware. Could this not be changed? Could the software be available for little or no price? Won't that help most of the mankind. Wouldn't that bring a little ease of living for the rest of the habitants on this earth?
There is another disadvantage to the software licensing regime. It prevents others to implement similiar software in their products. It is just unfair. You create a company that has hundreds of Billions dollors worth of turnover. And you prevent others to come up with cost effective or economic alternatives to your highly overprised bloatware through your economic and political influence. It starts looking as if we are living in a feudal society where every citizen living in a kingdom has to pay arbitrary taxes to the king. So basically we have created overlapping layered kingdoms in this world. One such kingdom is Microsoft and all other software companies, where one has to pay through the nose for the bloated software they force upon us. If you compare these proprietary software with the free and open source software that is available even now, we see how effective and efficient software has been created by the volunteer programmers and given away for free. If we need to reign in the overprised software kingdoms, we need to consciously start using free and open source software and pay to these developers instead wasting our money on the Bill Gates of this world. May be Indian government can help the free software movement grow in this country through government policies.
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