Steve Stites

"Even if the decision is ultimately unpopular, people will still follow because they know they had a say in the decision-making process. A meritocracy is different than a democracy. "

One of the ways that a meritocracy is different than a democracy is that in a meritocracy the majority does not necessarily rule. Dissenters can and sometimes do fork a project.

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Steve Stites

"This is often due to the fact that software was written without it being copyrighted"

If software is published or distributed then it is copyrighted.

"the fact that many never applied for patents on the software they did right."

Currently unpatented prior art will invalidate a patent. Under first to file unpatented prior art will not invalidate a patent.

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Steve Stites