On 12/13/06, The Cunctator cunctator@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/13/06, Anthony wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
It doesn't seem right to me giving special permission to a company which makes proprietary software and distributes watermarked proprietary maps, some of which are just public domain maps with a watermark and a spurious claim of copyright on them.
kind of have to agree there. but i guess if you pay off the foundation....
It's not like it's that much money, though. Royalty income doesn't even make its own category on the financials (presumably it's included in the $56 thousand of other income), and with half a million dollars sitting in a bank account earning little or no interest (some of it not even FDIC insured), it's not like the money is desperately needed. I say get behind World Wind and/or some other free software. Make it a point to *not* support Google Earth. That's worth more in my opinion.
And if you're gonna sell out, at least make a decent amount doing so :). I think it's just that Google has a certain blind love from a certain community which overlaps with the former members of Wikimedia. I can understand it, I respect Google and its founders, and I think a lot of the things Google does are great and revolutionary. But I'm also the kind of person who can respect a company but still believe I have a duty to fight against certain things it's doing.
Anthony