Dear Mr. Amaran,

Thank you for your flattering and gracious letter of August 16, which lifted my spirits and made me feel how small Planet Earth has become. I am delighted that you are forming a foundation for the distribution of public domain software, and will send you copies of any programs that I develop.

It was a great honor to think that you might want to know my thoughts on this occasion. As I sat in Union Square Park this afternoon, watching a small group of Americans gather around the statue of Mohandas K. Gandhi to celebrate the Mahatma's 119th birthday, a simple thought occurred to me that I would like to share with your colleagues.

Many far-seeing men and women believe that software is becoming a tool that is too important to be kept in the simple category of "invention." Inventions are the rightful property of inventors, but the kind of software that will slowly but surely approach human thought in its complexity and subtlety should be considered rather as a work of art or a contribution to human knowledge. Can anyone doubt that such a tool as the modern word processing program is as useful to society as, say, an obscure mathematical theorem or the minor sonnet of a lesser poet? Although computer programmers deserve to be well-paid for their efforts, good software should finally become the common property of all mankind, just like the loom, the printing press and the electric light. By placing their work in the public domain, programmers can exemplify that spirit of selfless brotherhood which is taught by the great spiritual leaders of East and West alike.

Dean Hannotte