Exactly.

All recognize that the current patent system will require a re-vamp. Different people advocate different solutions, and only a minority favor eliminating all software patents (and I am in the majority, not in that minority).

Yet the surest way for a creator to prevent software patents from dominating is to create open source/GNU material. The surest way for
users to prevent software patents on end user software from being econoimically as advantageous is to use open source.

I am not offended by the concept of patent protection (disclosure: I am registered with the PTO as a patent lawyer, though I practice commercial litigation and IP licensing rather than prosecuting patents), but I believe that the surest way to prevent unpatentable material from getting patents is to put as much material in the public domain (or attrribution licenses or GNU or what you have) as soon as one creates it.

I am not doctrinaire about it, but I find that when I can use freeware or shareware, then I do. I like the idea that a simple donation to a developer who makes things available for free can do more good than paying an over-priced license for something freeware does about as well.

I think that the science commons idea could include a kind of software commons, to supplement the many collaborative efforts at freeware creation into a voluntary framework.