On AD 2008 January 20 Sunday 04:43:00 PM -0700, Levi Pearson wrote: > Religion and principles are often tied together, since religion is a
Yes, often, perhaps but there are many things to be principled about that aren't religious. I don't understand why you wish to construe this as religious. > You may call it a principle based on reason, but I suspect that it is > in fact a principle based on taking the edicts of the Free Software > Foundation on faith, making it essentially religious in nature. The > whole good vs. evil dichotomy that the Free Software Foundation sets > up certainly smacks of religion to me, as does the attitude Free > Software adherents tend to have towards commercial, non-Free software. PLUG is ostensibly about Linux and Free Software. Perhaps the FSF has become passé and it is popular to disparage them. I know you wouldn't necessarily do that without good reason, but neither do I believe blindly in the edicts of the FSF. I presume you are familiar with the benefits of using/practicing OSS, so I don't understand why you would be critical of me in using it exclusively. My reasons are partly idealistic, experimental, curious, and practical. I believe that software as OSS is necessarily better for the world, so I've made it the staple of mine. Since OSS is developed in the open I am better able to learn about/with it than its proprietary counterparts. The freedom to copy, study, and modify it is an excellent benefit that proprietary SW by definition cannot offer. Besides that I can get all the OSS I need without price. That is the substance of my principle and I fail to know how this elicits your condescension. Justin /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
