From: szabo@netcom.com (Nick Szabo)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 17:52:15 PDT
To: M..Stirner@f28.n125.z1.FIDONET.ORG (M. Stirner)
Subject: Re: "more money than brains?"
In-Reply-To: <2091.2C7BE7E4@shelter.FIDONET.ORG>
Message-ID: <9308260048.AA12637@netcom4.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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M. Stirner: 
> Only one question:  WHY?  If PGP is freeware for noncommercial single
> users, why on earth would anyone wish to drop $100 +/- for single-user
> rights to a virtually identical program?

There are several business proposals floating around the cypherpunks
community that would require commercial licenses.  I encourage the
various crypto-entrepreneurs elaborate if they wish.  

Some of the proposals are quite interesting and illuminating.
There's a strong habit of keeping business ideas "trade secret", 
which can be a bad idea, since (a) many of the ideas
are obvious; trade secrets only work for subtle but important
technological bottlenecks known to a small group of mutually
trustworthy people, and (b) many of the ideas need to
debugged by a wide variety of crackers and experts before they will
provid good privacy.  Trade secrets also inhibit the progress
of the cypherpunks agenda, but that's a judgement call; I myself
dont' feel morally bound to Reveal All for the sake of the 
Movement.  But, "I'll post mine if you post yours".

Nick Szabo					szabo@netcom.com