Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 14:07:52 -0500 From: Anthony Kim <tkim@mcs.net> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: commercial software (definitive) Message-ID: <355C9288.672ED9FD@mcs.net> References: <XFMail.980515103333.wotan@Dorm-35959.RH.UH.EDU>
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Rather than illogical, the matter is ideological. I won't venture to guess the impact of free software philosophy on the global economy--but I admire its intent. That which benefits huamnkind ought to be freely accessible. Now "ought to be" is not the same as "legally bound to be" and we are opening up a crusty canister of philosophical worms in discussing these issues. Now, I wouldn't propose socialism (which is beautiful in theory, but unjust in practice), but I admire the purity and spirit of GNU philosophy. A billion people may disagree. So I leave it as a matter of taste, intuition, and altruism. rgds, Anthony Jonathan Fosburgh wrote: > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > > If some of you are still questioning yourself, it's good. If not, you > > should take a look, just a little peek, about 3 or 4 minutes read, at this > > URL. it's the GNU home, which have interesting answers about commercial > > software. > > > > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html > > > > Have a nice day. > This has got to be one of the most illogical things I have ever read. To claim > that people can exercise no claim of property on the results of their hard > labour is absurd. If I write a program it exists because *I* had the ability to > write it and *I* saw it's potential usefulness, or because *I* simply wanted to > write it. If I choose to sell it for profit that is my business and I am > entitled to as much money as a free market is willing to pay for it. If I > choose to give it away free, subject to any restrictions I may wish to impose, > then that is also my business. > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > Jonathan Fosburgh |We shall not cease from exploration > jef53313@bayou.uh.edu, |And the end of all our exploring > wotan@scientist.com |Will be to arrive where we started from > |And know the place for the first time. > www.geocities.com/vienna/1498 | > Undergraduate Geophysics |T.S. Eliot, > University of Houston |The Four Quartets > ******************************************************************************* > I swear -- by my life and my love of it -- > that I will never live for the sake of another man > nor ask another man to live for mine. > > Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged > ******************************************************************************* > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: 2.6.2 > > iQBVAwUBNVxgS/x1aCmcyaTdAQGyOwIAuFt8adHIclF3mWUEXA8z+13VWsnvgeo1 > TdjA1D2Nunb1dlunGSTWf8ACi9Y2N6Fk11SLfWzJ4XZD0gYxMhDbyA== > =bGsU > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- "The conclusion I have reached is that reading is an operation without object; or that its true object is itself." --Italo Calvino "First and foremost, I think of myself as a reader." --Borges To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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