gertjan@west.nl (Gertjan van Oosten) (06/10/91)
henry@ADS.COM (Henry Mensch) writes: > In article <Nk13311w164w@bluemoon.uucp> sbrack@bluemoon.uucp > (Steven S. Brack) writes: > > Then, if the company wanted to see the manuscipt it lets you use > > your PC or UNIX account to write, they can? > it's not clear what the purpose of this manuscript is, but they almost > certainly have a right to do this. [...stuff deleted...] > (proof you used their facilities > to do the work may entitle them to payment for that use, or > part-ownership in the resulting work). Wow, the opportunities this gives rise to! Take the following analogies (if you don't believe in the power of analogy, they still are fun): [computer equipment] - if I borrow someone's pen to write a chapter of my new novel, that person becomes part-owner of the work; [disk space] - if I borrow a piece of paper for the manuscript, I am no longer the sole author; [temporary disk space] - even worse: if, during a long wait at the Housing Department, I use their desk to put my notebook on and scribble down part of the plot, it has become government property... Does anyone want to borrow my pen for their next best-seller??? Sorry to interrupt (nothing personal against Henry Mensch or Steven S. Brack), but I was getting tired of this discussion. So far, I have seen few educated responses and lots of silly arguments (mainly repetitions of "if you use their equipment, it's theirs"). Regards, -- Gertjan van Oosten, gertjan@west.nl OR gertjan@westc.uucp -- West Consulting bv, Bagijnhof 80, 2611 AR Delft, The Netherlands -- P.O. Box 3318, 2601 DH Delft -- Tel: +31-15-123190, Fax: +31-15-147889 Blackadder: "I'll be back before you can say 'antidisestablishmentarianism'..."