Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 15:58:25 -0700 From: "Gilbert Gong" <ggong@cal.alumni.berkeley.edu> To: "j mckitrick" <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org>, <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: BSD, .Net comments - any reponse to this reasoning? Message-ID: <008f01c1034a$8190d3a0$190f000a@ggongws> References: <20010630174743.A85268@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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A few other points.. 1) I hesitate to defend Bill Gates, but the man has given a lot of money to charity (and I mean a lot, even considering how much he has). As much as I like the idea of free software, when the man has given say $100 Million to fight Aids, $1 billion to the United Negro College Fund, $750 million to support immunization of children in the poorest countries, etc etc (see http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/grantlist.asp?mode=&search= ) I have a hard time seeing him as "the single most disgusting person in the entire world". There's a lot more to this world than software.. 2) What some people are realizing, and some have long known, but hasn't been mentioned yet on this thread is that basically, "Free Software", or "Open Source Software" (these phrases all mean different things to different people now) cannot truly be killed. Ie take some of the software which Microsoft has "killed", Lotus and Wordperfect. They both had to be acquired by other companies because they could no longer sustain themselves. Microsoft "killed" them by essentially forcing them out of business. Projects such as Linux and FreeBSD cannot be forced out of business, as long as there are volunteers working on them, they still live. Even when no one works on the project, as long as the code is archived somewhere, it has the opportunity to be ressurrected someday when the need returns.. 3) I do not believe there is any evidence that Microsoft is "controlling" BSD, nor that they are attempting to. Heh, they'd have to contribute to BSD to even have a chance of "controlling" it, something the same person said they are loathe to do.. Gilbert ----- Original Message ----- From: "j mckitrick" <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> To: <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2001 9:47 AM Subject: BSD, .Net comments - any reponse to this reasoning? > > I'm curious to get some thoughts on this. Just when i am convinced BSD is > doing great, i get concerned by material like this. Is this just FUD? > > It seems the GPL became relevant more than ever with the advent of an > everyman's Unix in the face of a dominant, evil software empire. A radical > solution for an overwhelming problem. It is being contended that the BSD > license is too altruistic, ignoring market motivations and expecting the > best when we have seen that most companies do not operate that way. > > Please, someone give me some sound reasoning that can clear the air of this > FUD. > > > > Jonathon > -- > Microsoft complaining about the source license used by > Linux is like the event horizon calling the kettle black. > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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