Hi Folks, Let us play a Free Software Game or should we say a Free Software Drama?
Here is the list of main actors with their roles and properties! 1. GNU and FSF People and their fans - These are GODs themselves with "halo" and all. Their goal is to liberate the soul and give freedom to "user" (another actor in the game/play). The latest weapon in their arsenal is GPLv3. They think that the previous weapon they had (GPLv2) has some flaws and other licenses like - *BSD, NLP, Creative Commons are useless. 2. Developers (Software and Content creators - including artists, writers etc.) - These are the (misguided?) angles. They create software and content for various reasons like - scratch the etch, technical excellence, fame, money and occasionally freedom. These people think that GPLv3 is going too far and can actually thwart the progress of Free and Open Source Software. 3. Users (mere Mortals - I belong this category :-)) - These are the people who want usable, quality software / content which is reasonably priced (preferably gratis ;-)). They are not very much bothered about freedom and source code as it mostly irrelevant for them. The FSF GODs and Devils and Demons (described below) are competing for their souls. :-) 4. Hardware Developers (mostly creators of devices and general purpose computers and peripherals) - These are the people whose main purpose in life is to make money. If they have to sleep with Devils and Demons they will not be too shy. However, they know the importance of the users (consumers) and will try to make sure that their users are not antagonised. 5. Proprietary Software Vendors / Large Corporations / Multinationals - These are the Devils and Demons who are out there to suck the souls and freedom of the users and make large amount money by exploiting the users. Their main weapons are so called illegal tactics, market monopoly, huge amount of money at their disposal, finest marketing brains, DRM, copy rights and patents and some possibly useful software / content. How to play the game / drama? You assume one of the roles described above and put forward your dialog / move. We also examine various licenses in this context and see if the GPLv3 is justified in being such a Complex and Draconian(?) in nature. So are you ready? :-) Then let us play! With regards, -- --Dinesh Shah :-) -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
