[plug] [link] [OT] Open Source genetics

[tcleary2 at csc.com.au]

James,

You said:

>You have to be surprisingly well-resourced in order to be a hobbyist

Uness you're amazingly determined or don't mind "doing it the hard way".

Yes, often you'd never get Industrial scale results - discovery and 
selling an item are different pursuits.

But the Aussie guys working on the "scram jet" with cast off Holden parts 
haven't been far from the cutting edge.

>But to fully express these inventions for public benefit
>surely requires something more.

Well, unless you have an undertaking that does not depend on 
centralisation or financial success - e.g. Bakers Delight? How many of 
those are there, now? ( and yeah, I know it's a franchise, but the 
investment is not beyond an individual, who may not want to "maximise" but 
rather emphasise continuity of, profits)

But for folks in Perth "take it striaght off the floor, don't wait weeks 
for delivery" is a good hook.

There's also a large swathe of altruism that doesn't fit the Corporate 
model e.g. the SETI screen savers etc.

( And IMHO another refinery might not be a bad idea, heh? Anyone in with 
me? :-)))

>Sure. But how many hobbyists have their own IC fabrication facilities,

Few. But how many do you need? The "way to make money" is to produce 
copies of an original cheaper than people can do it themselves. You still 
need the Original, wherever it came from.

When that breaks down ( MP3 and burners? ) it's time to adapt to a new 
Business model.

But people still buy Art.

>we might at times be better off
>letting the proprietary interests have their way (within reason).

And that's the $64K question. Whose "reason"? People in Africa may have a 
different view to California......

>PS. Nice to see you found a way to post :-)

I gave up emailing the listmaster and registered again. <sigh>

Regards,

tom.

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