Re: [OT] Re: realplay.el interface with Real Player v. 1879

[Richard Stallman]

    I'm an Oracle professional.  I don't see any free software close to as
    good as their database software.

By using Oracle, you're giving up your freedom.  It may be convenient,
or even profitable, but it isn't right.

      Its a fairly easy argument to make
    that if all software were free, Oracle wouldn't be in business,
    therefore nobody would be able to use a database as good as Oracle's is
    today.

Someone else pointed out that you can't be sure of that conclusion.
In that other world, users could have made other arrangements to
develop a free data base that is as good or better.  The lack of
today's easy-way-out could have motivated them to do so.

That is not inevitable.  Perhaps there would not be such a powerful
data base system.  If so, so what?  Freedom is more important than
technical progress.

In that world, I would tell those users, "If you care enough about
having a more powerful data base system, get together and fund
improvements in free data bases.  Or, if you don't think it's really
so important, then don't."

    My argument for free software has always been how great the software is
    that is free.

That's a side issue.  The argument for free software is that we must
have freedom.  In some areas, free software is technically better than
proprietary software, but not always.  However, free software is
always ethically better, and that is what really matters anyway.