Rjack wrote:
The purpose of the GPL is to (illegally) thrust socialism upon a democratic majority who desire a capitalist system.
Since no one is forced to use the GPL, the GPL cannot thrust anything upon anyone. Instead, the GPL fosters a communal arena of code that is available to those who choose to participate. It prevents the work of the community from being hijacked by those who refuse to share the values of the community. It suits both socialists, who like the notion of communal goods, and capitalists, who like the notion that others can profit from their work only if they in turn can profit from those others. It is extremely ill-suited to whiners who feel entitled to the work of others while denying those others the remuneration they want for their work, namely freedom for their users.
The purpose of the GPL is to destroy proprietary software.
The purpose of the GPL is to guarantee software users the right to run, read, modify, and share software. To the extent that proprietary software denies users these freedoms, it is the goal of the FSF to have it not be used and to be replaced with free alternatives. But if it is to succeed in doing so, it will be by offering a more attractive alternative, not by force. That is known as competition, not socialism. _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
