On Wednesday 30 March 2005 15:33, Chad Smith wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >The concerns are not overstated, quite the contrary. Today the > > silliest python app will have less difficulty being included in > > a Linux distribution than any given major java app. > > Does anyone have numbers on this? Is OOo the most often included > office suite on Linux or is it not? If it is, I doubt we should > even care what the free software fanatics say about our use of > Java... > > This whole conversation is beyond me. Java is free, as in beer, > it can be used by anyone on any computer on any platform in the > world.... Why anyone would exclude it for some stupid political > reason is beyond my understanding. Free as in beer/free as in > freedom.... Who cares? Does it work? Yes, oh yeah, it works. > Is it free? Well it doesn't cost anything. Can I put it on > Linux, Windows, Mac, Solaris? Yep-yep. Is there any spyware or > adware or viruses? Nope. Okay... I'm sold. > > I don't need a lecture on the difference between software that is > free and free software. I know the difference between > OpenOffice.org and 602 PC Suite. I know the difference between > open source and > trialware/shareware/adware/crippleware/nagware/and even freeware. > But if Java works, (and it does), and it works well, (and it > does), and it is as crossplatform as OOo (and it certainly seems > that way to me), and there's no way to do this in a more-free > format without a complete rewrite of stuff that the "open source > community"has heretofore been, shall we say, unwilling to rewrite > for us - I say, screw 'em. > > OOo is done 95% or more by *SUN EMPLOYEES*. If SUN wants to use > Sun's Java - then they can, and should. If these little Free > Software Freaks want it Java-free (pun intended) then "SHOW ME > THE CODE". If they want to bitch and moan - let them. They can > always try to get there work done on AbiWord.
There is not always a clear line between "open source" folks and "free software" folks, at least among the folks that I met in Spain, Scotland, Germany, and Brazil. Not all of the "open source" folks agree with Eric Raymond, Linus Torvalds, Bruce Perens, or Larry Augustin, and not all of the "free software" folks agree with Richard Stallman or the FSF. Members of the FSF often grip about Richard, and Richard is quite particular and will quickly disagree with anyone, and yet when the dust of history settles, the names that will always be repeated in discussions of FLOSS will be folks from both sides of the fence. Damn, there I go being diplomatic again. Force of habit. > > Sumbit IZ reports, discuss changes, but, when it comes down to > it, if you want it done, do it. Either do it, or find someone to > do it for you. I'm not concerned in the least about us losing > some FSF programmers - because we don't have any! When was the > last time someone of this political ilk submitted code to > OpenOffice.org? Last week? last month? last year? EVER?!? > > Why should we give a d*** about placating people who will never > like us and never help us anyway? It's a waste of time, effort, > and political capital. Let's just keep doing what we're doing > and let the code fall where it may. > > *This message brought to you by the International Alliance of > Coffee Bean Growers - JAVA RULZ!* > > -Chad Smith --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
