Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 15:26:43 -0700 From: Gregory Sutter <gsutter@pobox.com> To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: "Open Source Town Meeting" supports only one faction Message-ID: <19980722152643.H15764@notabene.zer0.org> In-Reply-To: <199807221513.JAA04373@lariat.lariat.org>; from Brett Glass on Wed, Jul 22, 1998 at 09:13:47AM -0600 References: <199807220608.AAA00964@obie.softweyr.com> <19980721184615.A15764@notabene.zer0.org> <199807220608.AAA00964@obie.softweyr.com> <19980722020343.C15764@notabene.zer0.org> <199807221513.JAA04373@lariat.lariat.org>
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On Wed, Jul 22, 1998 at 09:13:47AM -0600, Brett Glass wrote: > At 02:03 AM 7/22/98 -0700, Gregory Sutter wrote: > > >I _have_ read several of RMS's essays as well as the diatribes, as > >you (mean to) say, that come with FSFware. I don't really consider > >what RMS says as "ranting" and I worry about your seemingly- > >automatic association of "communist" with "drivel". First of all, > >it's not communist, it's socialist. > > Nope, it's communist. He wants all software development to be done > by collectives that are subservient to the Supreme Soviet (oops, > I mean the FSF). Now you're obviously just ranting. First, there's nothing wrong with a collective working on a project. Isn't that how FreeBSD has been built? Second, nothing in the GPL has anything to do with subservience. If people accept the GPL, then the information will be free forever. If not, that's their choice. There's no hierarchy there. > >While some of RMS's ideas are definitely on the edge of acceptability, > >you can't deny that he has some fantastic thoughts about information > >and property. > > "fantastic" as in "the stuff of fantasy." Richard still adheres to the > extreme notion that the concept intellectual property is fundamentally > wrong and evil, as are businesses that build intellectual capital. And, I seem to have chosen the wrong word. :) I did say, however, that some of his ideas are "on the edge of acceptability", which is a definition of extreme. He may be right, though -- for most instances of intellectual property, there is really no need for ownership. Unfortunately, this view is incompatible with capitalism. That doesn't make it something to be reviled. Most people who immediately ridicule RMS's ideas are never fully cognizant of their implications. Greg -- Gregory S. Sutter "How do I read this file?" mailto:gsutter@pobox.com "You uudecode it." http://www.pobox.com/~gsutter/ "I I I decode it?" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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