On Sun, 30 Sep 2001, Russell Nelson wrote: > No, the argument is that proprietary software is immoral and unethical.
Sorry, I did not intend to make expansive arguments about the sum total of motivations. I was specifically referring to the idea that software licenses should not restrict us from sharing, and being a part of our community, with the software. I certainly did not mean "social" in the same way that going to a club, drinking, and dancing is "social." > No, not solely. Yes, we argue that it is technically superior, but > the main thrust of our argument is that it is a more appropriate > choice for all software producers but those people extracting monopoly > profits from retaining a restrictive copyright. More appropriate on technical and pragmatic grounds, if I've read the essays right :) > There's another possibility: that RMS pulled his objection to the > APSL out of thin air, and that it doesn't have anything to do with > free software. I don't agree. I think that there are problems with it. Then again, I'm not convinced the QPL should be a free software license. > See, the problem here is that in order to be truthful, you have to say > "free software licenses according to the FSF". I'm sorry, I thought I was perfectly clear in delineating open source as according to the OSI, and free software as according to the FSF. I suppose the OSI is now a better judge of free software? > And that means "what RMS thinks." I think there is more to "free > software" than what RMS says, particularly when RMS says that "free > software" imposes a requirement to allow users to retain certain > specific types of privacy, but require them to give up other types of > privacy. I'd be interested in hearing about this (possibly privately). > I've tried to talk to RMS about this, but he dismisses my objections > as frivolous. Interesting. My experience has been that RMS responds to criticism with an open mind, an interest in resolving conflicts, and a speed not seen in other fora. He has taken my criticisms to heart, and never felt the need to call me a whiner. -- Matthew Weigel Research Systems Programmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] ne [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3