On 06/08/06, Brian Hulley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Therefore I think this distinction between concepts is just sophistry.
The distinction is there and relies on the community and people being
honest to avoid situations as you described. If you don't want it
however (well in this case relying on honesty seems ... naive, to say
the least), you may choose a different license. You're free after all
:)
The system of owners of software encourages
software owners to produce something---
but not what society really needs.
And it causes intangible ethical pollution
that affects us all.
Is this not designed to stir up feelings of guilt in proprietary software
developers? And is it desirable to limit the production of software to "what
society really needs"? Eg I'm glad the Coca-Cola company chooses to produce
Coke because I like drinking it but in no way could it be said that I
actually *need* it, and I wouldn't expect them to reveal their secret recipe
so endless other companies could instantly start competing with them.
The Coke is not the best example. First of all you don't expect that
Coca-Cole gives you right to modify the drink to suit your needs.
Nobody knows even what that would be supposed to mean :)
Secondly, even if Stallman's philosophy is quite idealistic, there is
number of practices in software industry that make ethical doubts
arise (at least when I'm concerned). Yet still it is customers' choice
that they allow to be fooled.
I can't entirely dismiss GNU/FSF/GPL but it poses a fundamental conflict
with the only way I can see of earning a living so it's like a continuous
background problem which drains some of my energy and enthusiasm hence the
length of my rambling post where I made another attempt to understand my
relation to it.
Well, setting aside usefulness of GPL in a commercial world, it did
serve a purpose not allowing anybody to buy out the opensource world
and kill it, didn't it?
Regards,
--
Intelligence is like a river: the deeper it is, the less noise it makes
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