Nathan Meyers writes:
> RMS does not own the last word
That wasn't the implication, I reckon.
> To paraphrase some of the Linux Expo statements:
> if the OSS community can't get past its anti-profit bias,
I do not agree with RMS on many an issue, but every now and
then somebody has to take a stance against this "anti-profit"
nonsense.
The very valid point that RMS tries to make (which I agree with,
as a published writer of fiction and non-fiction, and as a coder)
is that the claim of having created unprecedented value for
mankind is a bold one, and that exploits of that claim by means
of restricting the flow of information actually get in the way
of creating value for mankind. Such claim is the moral basis of
contemporary patents and attempts to copyright ideas - it wasn't
when copyright was invented. See
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98sep/copy.htm
Revenue is a necessity (being self-employed, I am painfully
aware of that). That our society decided to permit the few to
restrict use of knowledge that would not exist without the
many is a historic fact, but the solution has no inherent
value, and there are alternatives.
> Linux will remain nothing more than a hobbyist's toy.
Yeah. And nobody traded with the People's Republic of China.
b.
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