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

[George Carless]

Silly grasshopper.  I'm too busy for this: I have work to do.  But
consider that some people don't *want* to run their own companies, or at
least are not yet ready in life to do so.  Some don't have the business
acumen - but this has little to do with creativity or intelligence, let
alone vision.  You're talking about 'creativity' but judging it by your
own standards, which apparently encompass little more than 'profit'.  And
yet you're on a Linux mailing list!  (And this isn't to say that Linux
can't turn a (monetary) profit, merely that pure (monetary) greed is
seldom the driving factor.)

I don't disagree with you when it comes to the issues of how much
programmers expect/"deserve" -- but that's a separate discussion and I
think you muddy the waters by bringing it into this.

For my part, I program (for someone else) for a living; but I also develop
and sell code on-the-side for perk money -- the cash I make by
moonlighting pays for my guitars and all that kind of thing.  And I spend
the rest of my "creative" time in trying to write music, read and write
literature, and so forth.  But I suppose that by the standard of pure
monetary gain, I am "uncreative".  But I don't respect that standard.

As a final note, it's bizarre to think that anyone would be encouraged to
attempt to run a business by the prospect of a $500 prize; and
intellectual penis-size evaluation isn't my style.  And I wasn't setting a
"challenge".

--George

p.s. I'm smarter than you are. Nerr nerr nerr.