Linux Weekly News (www.lwn.net) has a lead piece discussing Steve Ballmer, big kahuna these days at MickymouseSoft, saying that Linux is like communism. I have often commented on these sorts of statements, which say more about the average American's knowledge of politics than anything else. Here's what I wrote in to LWN. ----- Forwarded message from Rev Simon Rumble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 12:09:39 +1000 From: Rev Simon Rumble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Communist? The communist label for free software is always a laughable one. When Americans say "communist" they invariably mean Soviet Socialist, ie USSR. The USSR was in fact a centrally planned totalitarian regime using communist imagery in its propaganda. That means that "the State knows what is best for you and you'll do what the State deems you should do" was the way it operated. This has more in common with the centrally planned (Cathedral) Microsoft telling users that they WILL have a browser embedded in the operating system than with free software. To claim free software is communist is to reveal a distinct lack of understanding of political terminology, although that is very common in post-McCarthy America. Free software has more in common, although most free software geeks don't realise it, with anarcho-syndicalists. Anarcho-syndicalists believe in absolute freedom with coorperation between individuals when it helps all the individuals (ie a syndicate). This means that anarcho-syndicalists may even elect or inherit a leader, but anyone in the syndicate is free to leave at any point they want -- kind of like Linux kernel development with Linus controlling it. It's curious how apolitical most free software geeks are, even though using free software over non-free software is an intensely political act. Anarchists talk about freedom being the natural state of man, which would ring true when you see free software geeks without a conscious political bone in their bodies becoming intensely political and unconsciously gravitating towards anarchical structures. I'm sure in future years the free software movement will be studied by political researchers everywhere. -- Rev Simon Rumble It seemed the world was divided into good [EMAIL PROTECTED] and bad people. The good ones slept better http://www.rumble.net ... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more. -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects" ----- End forwarded message ----- -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
