On Mon, 2003-09-15 at 12:50, District Webmaster wrote: > My point was that, as I've listened to RMS's tirades, my impression of > him has been that he thinks you're immoral if you create closed source > software. I disagree with him. AND I challenge the notion that he has > the authority to tell me what's moral and what isn't. I already have a > definitiver source for that. :)
Yes, he does call you immoral. He may even personally judge you immoral. I sometimes wonder, though, if he hasn't taken an extremist tack simply because it is needed to counter balance the forces opposing his. I missed in your first post that you were arguing against his approach, not the GPL. Sadly, some people get offended that they can't use GPLed code. They some how feel that like downloading music, it is their right just because it is easy. You can be offended by his moral judgment, but you can't argue that you are doing anything differently than him. If you release under a proprietary license, you are trying to be just as controlling as he is. The only licenses that don't try to control are public domain and BSD without advertising clause. > Granted, I prefer open source software for many of the reasons with > which we're all already familiar. But I think that, by the very act of > creation, you have the right to do with your product what you will > (within criminal bounds, of course) -- and you're not immoral by > choosing to release your product in a closed/proprietary manner (even as > a binary driver ;). You are only immoral if you try to prevent me from creating an environment in which I can protect my freedom. Creating proprietary hardware and refusing to give me specs isn't immoral, passing a law that makes me dependent on that hardware is. As long as I have an option to not use your product, everything else is healthy competition. -- Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED], AIM:StuartMJansen> Interviewer: What do you think anything[sic] is still missing from the [Linux] kernel? Andrew Morton: Groupies!
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