[ale] [WAY OT]Reverse Engineering MS Visual Basic Applications

[Jason Day]

On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 04:03:16PM -0500, ChangingLINKS.com wrote:
> You are correct. 
> And, that is why some programming IS done by other programs.

So you admit then that most programming requires creativity on the part
of the programmer?

> I was omitting "founders and entreprenuers" but not employees.

If a programmer is a full-time employee of a company (not a contractor),
then any code written by the employee constitutes a "work for hire" and
belongs to the company, not the employee.  What exactly is your issue
with this?

> But, in this case, there was some agreement that you WOULD get compensated on 
> the back end IF the project was successful. This case is not at issue.

What exactly is at issue?  Besides your trolling, of course...

> 
> > You certainly have a knack for pissing people off, Drew.  I don't know
> > what kind of experiences you've had with programmers that you have such
> > a preconceived notion.  While there are certainly programmers who do
> > nothing but grunt work, there are plenty of programmers who do more than
> > simply sit in a corner and bang out programs which simply process some
> > input according to some "rules" that were given to them by someone else.
> 
> I am referring to the employee, or the contract programmer that does do the 
> "grunt work." Some programmers write very valuable programs - look at Bill 
> Gates for example.

You didn't make that clear when you said "There is very little
difference between a programmer and someone who makes hamburgers at
McDonalds".

BTW, that's a nice touch, throwing out Bill Gates's name like that.
Should stir the waters some, no?

> I think I understand where you are coming from. It seems like you are 
> referencing types of programmers that I was excluding when I posted.

Bullshit.  You said "There is very little difference between a
programmer and someone who makes hamburgers at McDonalds".  You didn't
in any way imply that you were excluding some types of programmers.

> Course, I am not very clear about your opinion because you left the questions 
> unanswered. (The carpenter example was left on the table as well. Should he 
> retain copyright to the work he did on the addition - and get a cut when the 
> house is resold to someone else?)

I'm not sure what questions I left unanswered.  I left the carpenter
analogy alone because, frankly, it doesn't really apply.  What is the
source code in the carpenter analogy?  I never mentioned any royalties
or who gets a cut of what, I just pointed out what is really common
knowledge in copyright law: if you write something, you own the
copyright on it (unless you wrote it as a work for hire, or you signed a
contract beforehand stating otherwise).

> Let's isolate one question, Jason:
> Who should retain "copyright" if one programmer writes some code and another 
> modifies the code until it is almost completely different?

How the hell should I know?  That's such a vague and open ended
statement that I wouldn't even try and answer it.  Who owns the
copyright on the linux kernel?  It ain't just Linus.

"'Ahhhh!' screamed the nasty troll, as the biggest Billy Goat Gruff
tossed him into the air."  Like I said Drew, you have a real knack for
pissing people off, and you drew me in once (no pun intended).  No more.
Any possible doubt about you're being a troll was shattered with this
last message.

Welcome to my killfile.

*plonk*
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9