"John van V" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>From the MinGW.Sourceforge.net list----------
>
>I am going to play the peace-maker here for a moment, is
>there any possibility of negoiating a way out of this
>because I dont feel that it:
Doubtful. The first thing you must understand is that the
FSF does _not_ agree with the open-source philosophy. They
believe that proprietary software is unethical. They wish
to replace all proprietary software. Their stated goal is
the complete replaement of non-free (by their definitions)
software with free software.
I am not overstating the case. Go to http://www.gnu.org/
and read their essays. They lay out their reasons for
believing as they do in great detail. You may or may not
agree, but do not make the common mistake of confusing
Richard Stallman with Eric Raymond!
>a) benefits the world of users
The FSF is taking a long-term view here. They might agree
wholeheartedly that the particular example is inconvenient in
the short term. But trying to negotiate an easy settlement
that weakens the GPL weakens their position when they want to
address future problems, and letting companies get away with
slightly freeing software to the FSF is like letting slaves
go halfway (but not really) free.
Besides, they want to get people to find out that the FSF has
these odd beliefs, go to their website, and (hopefully)
become convinced.
>and
>b) makes a whole lotta sense considering that ATT has
>attempted to go the open route a lot more than many of the
>hosting platforms especially Microsoft.
It is the stated view of the FSF that attempts to provide
half-way free software is an insidious undermining of their
goal of replacing proprietary software. A good historical
analogy was the annoyance of true Communists at Socialists
who by pushing humane treatment of workers allowed the
capitalist pigs to put off the inevitable revolution.
(There, I managed a slavery analogy to annoy those who
disagree with the FSF and a communism one to annoy some who
do agree with the FSF!)
>John
>
>--- Mumit Khan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > On Tue, 9 Jan 2001, Paul Garceau wrote:
> >
> > > Something I received today.
> > >
> > > If you're using gcc for U/Win release from Mumits site, please
> > > take note.
> >
> > Yup, FSF has found that it is in violation of GPL to distribute GCC
> > linked with U/WIN runtime. I'll be removing all of it when I get back
> > from vacation later this week, with a note explaining why for the
> > benefit of the users.
> >
[...]
Cheers,
Ben
PS Whoops, resend. Forgot to cc the whole list the first time.
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