Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 13 Jun 2001 03:55:40 -0700
From:      "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
To:        "Rahul Siddharthan" <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
Cc:        "Rich Wilson" <wk633@yahoo.com>, <advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   RE: Mundie, Perens, GPL, BSD etc again
Message-ID:  <002801c0f3f7$627ced80$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
In-Reply-To: <20010613121302.I57154@lpt.ens.fr>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG
>[mailto:owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Rahul
>Siddharthan
>Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 3:13 AM
>To: Ted Mittelstaedt
>Cc: Rich Wilson; advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG
>Subject: Re: Mundie, Perens, GPL, BSD etc again
>
>
>Ted Mittelstaedt said on Jun 13, 2001 at 03:05:50:
>> "...The GPL infects only derivative works of GPLed software --
>you have to
>> include part of the source code of a GPLed program in your program..."
>>
>> Notice something there HE USES THE VERB "INFECTS"!!!
>>
>> This is the same fool that in the same breath is bitching
>because Microsoft
>> is equating the GPL to cancer.
>
>Well -- if we're nitpicking here, cancer is not infectious, so there's
>no contradiction...
>

:-)  Actually, I've had cancer before and let me warn you that the truth is
that the medical community really doesen't know this as a fact.  They don't
believe that it is, but they also don't know enough about cancer to
understand
why people get all of the types of cancer that they get, and they wouldn't
rule
this out for every kind of cancer there is.

The point is, though, that cancer is equated to being sick.  Infection is
also
equated to being sick.  Microsoft wants people to believe that those who use
Open Source are sick, so Eric is reinforcing this with his writing.  Not a
smart
thing to do there.


>> wants him to.  He's the one describing GPL as a virus here!!
>> Unbelievable!!!
>
>I agree, it's surprising he uses that word.  But it's accurate, what
>he writes.
>

While he is accurate that Microsoft is waging a propaganda campaign,
this is completely undercut by how he says it.  Propaganda campaigns work
indirectly, and if you read his _words_ then you will find the proof right
there that Microsoft's campaign is working just fine.

I understand the ideas that he's trying to get across but Eric is an
amateur that's hopelessly over his head.  He doesen't seem to understand
that he's fighting a very organized PR machine that has a lot of clever
people working for it and that stages just about every scrap of
communication
that goes out of the company.  He needs to really plan out his responses to
them and not make these kinds of first-year logical blunders that are
obvious here.

Ted Mittelstaedt                      tedm@toybox.placo.com
Author of:          The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide
Book website:         http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?002801c0f3f7$627ced80$1401a8c0>