Huh? When did this thread become a debate on the definition of Free or Open Source Software?
And for what it is worth I have never heard this definition anywhere - OSS is code censorship - you can read my ideas (source code), but you can't use them (my copyright and often an exclusionary license). Martin Visser Technology Consultant Consulting & Integration Technology Solutions Group - HP Services 410 Concord Road Rhodes NSW 2138 Australia Mobile: +61-411-254-513 Fax: +61-2-9022-1800 E-mail: martin.visserAThp.com This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify HP immediately by return email and then delete the email, destroy any printed copy and do not disclose or use the information in it. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bret Comstock Waldow Sent: Thursday, 23 March 2006 12:01 PM To: slug@slug.org.au Subject: Re: [SLUG] Fedora Core 5 On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 06:19, tuxta2 wrote: > Rather than try and decide who is right and who is wrong on this > issue, why don't we just understand that opinions vary, and why don't > we find a term that essentially means the same thing, but does not > have the insulting effect? Implicit in this is that you must decide upon a goal, about which you can then hopefully agree on a method of attaining (e.g. we can say RTFM or we can't say RTFM). Then you have to agree to enforce the decision in this context. Then you have to decide to exclude people who don't agree with either the goal or the approach to attaining it. Then you have to decide how to sanction people who don't act in accordance with your choice. Free Software is not Open Source Software. While they have some aspects in common, they are fundamentally opposed in others. OSS allows proprietary code - Free Software is deliberately opposed to it. FS acknowledges the existence of proprietary code, but works to supplant it's influence by providing a permanent alternative. OSS is code censorship - you can read my ideas (source code), but you can't use them (my copyright and often an exclusionary license). FS attempts to eliminate all possible censorship - no one can ever lock this code up again. No one can ever tell you you can't write this (my copyright, enforceable in court, and a license that allows anyone to use it, also enforceable in court, as long as any copyright law is enforceable in court). GNU/Linux is released under the GPL - it is totally Free Software, and many of the packages commonly used with GNU/Linux (which is just the kernel) are also GPL. Some are OSS. But Linux itself is Free Software - enforced in court, if necessary. Linus Torvalds is neither unconscious nor stupid. So, is this a Linux user's group? Is it just a "I want my software for no $$" group? The hard bit about Freedom is giving it to others, even when you don't like what they are doing. The hard bit about Freedom is NOT controlling others. Freedom != 0$ I wonder if people do what they say. I like to note how well they keep to their principles. Yes, you can decide to have an association with these rules or those rules or some other rules. But are you sure the rules you're thinking of are really in the spirit of Free Software? LInux is not Open Source - it's Free Software, and consciously so, for a purpose. Is this really a GNU/Linux user's group? Should you call this the Sydney Open Source Software Group or the Sydney Alternative Software User's Group, but leave 'LUG' for people who know and respect that GNU/Linux is GPL Free Software, not Open Source, and opposed to censorship in it's intent? Are you flying under false colors? I expect any number of justifications in response. This is responding to the list - responses go to the list. Do not send mail to me directly. Regards, Bret -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
