> Obviously, open source will figure prominently

We use the term Free Software to represent what we care about here, since
the important aspect is that you have the freedom to run, study, share and
modify the code, not merely that someone is willing to show it to you.
"open source" is something different and less meaningful.

> However, the main reason I'm posting here is that the main attraction of
my museum, when it goes live, will be proprietary code.

Why? Why not just stick to code that the authors are willing to share in
the first place? Art museums don't usually contain the kind of art that the
authors wanted to keep secret from everyone else.

> The FSF and LibrePlanet, on the other hand, have more than enough clout
to get noticed, so if any of you would be willing to help me get this
proprietary source, please do say.

I don't mean to sound unwelcoming, but I think that doing so would run
against the goals and values of this community, unless the goal would be to
liberate the software as well (which I doubt the companies would go for all
of a sudden, as liberating software has been our main goal for 30 years).

I think you would do best to focus on software that the authors want to
share with the world. It's not like there's a shortage of it, and when
people talk about the beauty of code, they are probably being inspired by
code that they are allowed to look at.

I would also recommend looking at some pages talking about what the Free
Software movement cares about, perhaps you will be convinced. I especially
recommend looking at this: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

-Alan Beadle

Reply via email to