On 02/10/2014 05:31 PM, Simon Wise wrote:
On 11/02/14 04:40, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
Unfortunately the open source definition was designed to subtly hide the
ethical reasons for doing open source development. The reasoning for
this
was quite straightforward-- "share with your neighbor" doesn't attract
business dollars. So open source advocates focus on efficiency, like
the
ability to plug a 3-clause BSD-licensed library into just about any
device
you want, even a device that is locked down and requires the final
app to be
proprietary.
If you consider attracting business dollars actually spent on ongoing
development of open source code then the GPL, explicitly stating its
aims and with strict copyleft terms has been quite successful (not
denying that BSD, Apache and similar have also, in many cases) ....
That's true, but an open source advocate could still reframe that in
terms of efficiency, cost-savings, etc., rather than freedom for the end
user. An open source advocate could even make the argument that the GPL
actually gets in the way even for the most successful projects that are
licensed with it, creating unnecessary bureaucracy and copyright
sign-off requirements in what would otherwise be a post-license digital
utopia.
I don't buy those arguments, but the point is that if there are enough
voices framing everything in those terms then fundamental principles
about user freedom get lost. I mean, if I'd never heard much about
freedom of the press then who knows if I'd find it reasonable to
prosecute journalists who receive classified information and "sell" it
to their publishers in the form of news. Instead, that sounds like
tyranny to me. And that's more likely due to a long line of teachers
with the integrity to explain those principles than to living in a
country licensed under the Constitution. :)
-Jonathan
If anyone wants to read a principled statement on user freedom, it's
here:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
-Jonathan
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