Re: [OT] free novels vs free software documentation
On Wed, 14 May 2003, Mark Rafn wrote:
[snip areas of broad agreement]
> I can't think of a freedom that is useful for program documentation that
> it not equally important for a novel. Likewise software itself ->
> documentation.
Modifiability. The subject of a novel is far more static than that of a
software manual - how many 20 year old manuals for free software do you
regularly use, as opposed to 20 year old novels? A manual which cannot be
modified to keep up to date with the software it documents very quickly
becomes irrelevant.
I think the core issue is the variance of the topic of the litarary work.
The more variable the topic of the work, then the more important the ability
to modify it is. That open modifiability is an asset for any work I don't
disagree with, but utility isn't binary.
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Matthew Palmer, Geek In Residence
http://ieee.uow.edu.au/~mjp16
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