Well you managed to miss the point of my *metaphor* (not straw man),
even though I spelt it out for you:
"The point is real "freedom" is measured on a "whole picture" basis,
not on an individual basis."
How are you "less free" as a result?
Apple's iPhone, for instance, contains open source software, but
because it's totally reliant on un-free software I can't add VoIP via
WiFi to it for instance, effectively nullifying the freedom aspect of
the free software component for its users. All the effort that went
into that free software to make it free is nullified for me as a user
and Apple (a large purveyor or largely un-free software) gets a leg
up (boosting it's ability to compete against free software) that it
wouldn't have had if that software had been licenced under the GPL,
effectively making the society I live in less free.
Renaissance Man
On 27 Jan 2007, at 4:15 pm, David Schlesinger wrote:
>If I am free to beat someone up that does not mean the sum total of
>freedom for society is increased.
Sorry, pointlessness alert. There's _never_ a "freedom" to beat
someone up, and--outside of the very limited contexts of, e.g., law
enforcement or military activities--no one can grant one, so let's
put this straw man to rest right away. Beating someone up is
assault and battery, which are either misdemeanors or felonies,
depending on the degree of severity, and you're never "free" to do
either one.
Granting the freedom to extend a piece of code in whatever ways
one's ingenuity allows, and do what one likes with those changes,
doesn't take anything away from the original situation. If Apple
takes BSD code and makes it do interesting things it couldn't
before, you no worse off than you were before they did so, whether
or not they share the source code for those changes with you.
Who do you imagine is getting "beaten up"? How are you "less free"
as a result? If Apple's changes--and unwillingness to share--offend
you, don't buy anything from 'em. If others don't mind, do you feel
that you "know better" and should be able to restrict _their_
freedom to buy Apple's products...?
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