Morning talk in the UAM. A large group of users from the Universidad Pontificia came.

I also had an idea during my talk: countries could have a tariff on proprietary software. This has been done for centuries for other products to protect the local economy. The money from the taxes could be used to improve free software.

Since it would be very hard to do this for every piece of software, I suggest that the tariffs are only impossed on proprietary software from mass monopolies.

Sharp readers will be thinking that this goes against free markets, and the whole invisible hand theory that "magically" fixes economies. The problem with the theory of free markets is that we do not have one. We have a monopoly that has been found guilty of abusing of their position, and can not be broken.

A tariff on proprietary software from a monopolist would help naturally balance our industry. Once they stop being a monopoly, and become another player, the tariff can be removed.

More on Palestine.

A reader found my weblog and sent me this great link. It contains all kinds of information, pictures and maps of the problem in Palestine.