Superdistribution: Objects as Property on the Electronic Frontier

Now that object-oriented technologies ranging from programming languages to graphical user interfaces to the WWW have made it feasible to manufacture readily transferable objects made of bits, what does it mean to buy, sell and own them? Brad Cox proposes "superdistribution" as a solution that allows software to flow freely without resistance from copy protection or piracy--a "charge as you play" model that will work well in a world of Java-like applets. A well-thought-out "modest proposal" from one of the founders of object-oriented programming.