On Mon, 2003-09-15 at 11:21, District Webmaster wrote: > Real freedom means that, when you create something, you have the right > to do with it what you please. This includes burying it in the sand or > charging outrageous fees for it's use.
> RMS doesn't think that you, as a > creator, ought to have the right to choose what to do with your > creation. He's decided that he has the moral authority to dictate to > you what you should do -- he does this in the name of "public good," > but (again) he's decided that he has the authority to determine what is > in the public good. (Personally I think he may have a bit of a "god" > complex.) > No he doesn't. That's one of the more absurd statements I've ever heard. He has never advocated stealing anything or forcing anyone to give their things away. I think you really misunderstand Stallman's position and the GPL itself (case in point: why is the GPL freer than the BSD license?). For years he funded himself selling his free software. He does advocate the voluntary freeing of software by it's developers, though. By producing true free software through the GPL (that remains perpetually free), developers and users alike are protected from the theft of their IP by companies such as Microsoft. The freedoms that Stallman talks about are different than the freedoms you are talking about (which will always be there, GPL or no, Stallman or no). These common misceptions play very well into Microsoft's anti-GPL fud campaigne. The reason I bring up the GPL here is because it is the embodiment of the freedoms and morality that Stallman expouses. Anyway, he does take the moral high ground, and he may have an ego, but not a god complex. Michael > If you're interested in _real_ freedom, you have to realize that even > means freedom for (gasp) Microsoft to do with their products what they > choose. (Now, when you begin to use your market share to unfairly > manipulate your competition, that's another story -- and don't even get > me started on the idea that you can patent software processes. . .) > > I have to admire RMS's passion, misdirected though it may be in some > ways. We owe a lot to the effort he has put in over the years. But we > have to be responsible in defense of freedom -- even when that means > disagreeing with an ally. If you don't like what Microsoft does, use > your freedom to create/support/choose a competing company/product -- > but recognize is even for people/groups with whom we disagree. > > I know some of my UUG friends will disagree with me. I fully support > their freedom so to do. :) > > Dave > > ____________________ > BYU Unix Users Group > http://uug.byu.edu/ > ___________________________________________________________________ > List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list -- Michael L Torrie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
