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.)
Whoa, you'd better be careful. Stallman *does not* believe in breaking copyright law. He says that people who write software *should* release it as free software. He doesn't say they have too, or that software not released as free software should then be pirated, decomplied and then released as free software.
> RMS doesn't think that you, as a > creator, ought to have the right to choose what to do with your > creation.
I've never heard of something so stupid. Have you ever read the GPL? That license directly states that the author has the control to make sure that his software remains free. The license that really lets you lose control of what will happen with your software is the MIT license. MIT says "do what you want with this, re-distribute the source it if you want, we don't care." GPL says, "I have the right to choose what to do with my software and I want any changes of it to be redistributed. I don't see this as much diffferent from Microsoft saying don't distribute this in any form, ever! It's the principle of control.
> 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,"
again be careful. He hasn't taken an "authority" at all, he hasn't forced anyone, programmer, corporation, to release their code under a Free license. He just says, "This is the way I think things should be done... If you want to play with me, follow my rules. If you don't, there are other playgrounds you can play on. But I've built my own playground, so follow my rules." RMS isn't going to other playgrounds, tearing down the rule signs that are there, and posting his own. He's not setting up playground monitors to force people on *other* playgrounds to play by his rules.
Man you gotta read RMS's stuff before you go spouting off on what isn't his philosophy.
Art
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