[redial]

So Linux has no value? GCC has no value? You seem to be arguing software only creates value because there are patents artificially protecting it, when in fact, many proponents of patent reform argue that by eliminating software patents even more value could be created "out of thin air".

Also, software patents do not prevent you from releasing open source software; you can have a patent and release the source of your implementation. They are not related at all.

[olewhalehunter]

Linux's value stems from the fact that it works on a lot of (proprietary) hardware and from the scarcity of robust open source OS's among mostly proprietary ones preferred and taught to students or employees through education suppliers and government contracts, it is hardly the magical gift of a free market (one sans IP law and subsidies).

[redial]

Linux is not the gift of any system. Linux is an example of “value added out of nothing”. It is also an example of “value added out of nothing” that is both patent free and open source. Whatever the system is, value can be added out of nothing by for example creating art, writing a book, and even writing software.

Your problems with patents or the free market make no difference to that.

[olewhalehunter]

Products and their consumers don't climb out of empty voids, and a system with government enforced patents, NDAs, or any other IP law is, by definition, not a Free Market.