On Fri, Jan 10, 2003, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote about "Re: RMS over Humous - meeting
summery":
> I also agree with some things that RMS says. I do disagree with his
> ideas about freedom though on a vary basic level, but I will only
> discuss that over some free beer. ;-) On this list it would be
> off-topic.
I don't know what your "basic disagreements" are (I guess I'll have to buy
you a beer to find out :)), but one obvious (and often-stated) objection goes
something like that
"What, we don't have freedom? Just look at the people at
<some-other-country-with-less-freedom>. They can't even do <this>
or <that>! So don't go whine about not being able to copy software."
This is obviously true, but like Stallman says: when you consider freedom
important, and your best (and perhaps only) skill is programming, the best
(and perhaps only) thing you could do for humanity is to apply those skills
for "the cause". I.e., write free software. On the other hand, if you're a
good politician, a charismatic leader, then indeed you might do the country
more good by doing something about more fundumental issues of freedom (civil
rights, etc.).
Another common objection, especially in the US in last two years, is
"If we had any more freedom, the terrorists will get us!"
But anybody with a little sense in his or her head can figure out that
terrorists are NOT in the business of copying software, or even downloading
mp3 music from the net.
P.S.
Stallman loves to use the word "Freedom", which is why we're discussing
this value so much now. But I believe that Stallman's words (part of which
I summarized in my fake interview yesterday) should be interpreted more
broadly to say: "Free Software is important because of its values, not
because of its practical advantages".
I don't believe that Freedom is the only value that should be mentioned
in this regard. In my essays (sorry for the usual plug: [1]) I explained why
I believe that two other values should be stressed as well when discussing
the moral advantages of free software: Equality and Fraternity.
Richard Stallman does agree with me that these two values are also important,
but he rarely mentions them - maybe because of pedagogical reasons ("focus
your aim") or because he really thinks they are less important. He did
mention those values, though, in [2] (you'll need to be able to read French
to read this speech that Stallman gave in 1998 in Paris).
[1] http://nadav.harel.org.il/essays/chofesh/index.html
[2] http://www.april.org/actions/rms/10111998/texte.html
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