RE: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd)

[Matthew James Gering <mgering@ecosystems.net>]

I wrote:
> > Show me an example of an unregulated coercive monopoly 
> > whose source of monopoly power is not ultimately the 
> > government.

Jim Choate answered:
> The Mafia. The handful of world-class coke dealers. Your local church.

The church had a monopoly on religion. Not any more. When it had it was
supported by the state or by its own use of force. The other two
organizations use force to maintain their monopoly, and again both are
supported indirectly (sometimes more directly than we like to think) by
the state. The state prohibits free competition, it is a black market.

When I talk of a free market I man Laissez Faire Capitalism, not
Anarcho-Capitalism. The abolition of force is a requisite (and the only
proper role of government). A large company can maintain a monopoly by
force (more often than not the government is the instrument of force,
the legalization of coercive monopoly power).

	Matt