Re: Matt Assay Tells the Truth

[Rjack]

Hyman Rosen wrote:
> Rjack wrote:
> > Egad!! I thought *freedom* for software developers meant 
> > licensing their software any way they wished. I didn't know it 
> > was the GPL or the highway.
>
> This is absolutely correct. Freedom for software developers means
>  that they may license their software any way they wish. The FSF 
> promotes freedom for users, however, not software developers, and
>  the freedom of users is adversely affected when software 
> developers choose non-free licenses.

Why don't you write the editors of these publishers:

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# Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
# The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2005 Denis Howe
# Jargon File 4.2.0
# Acronym Finder, © 1988-2004 Mountain Data Systems
# U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

and explain to them that their definition of "freedom" is wrong.
Perhaps after they change their definition to suit Stallman's
philosophy you'll have a better chance of making all of us ardent
socialists.

> > Your link to the self-serving rant by Richard Stallman does 
> > nothing but confirm his monomanical compulsion to destroy the 
> > concept of intellectual property.
>
> Stallman believes that users of software should have the freedom 
> to run, read, modify, and share it.

My God! However did society ever manage before Stallman came along?
We're so grateful he's saving us from ourselves.

> In the case of X Window, for a very long time its users had those
>  freedoms, but they could have been lost because the organization
>  primarily responsible for it had the legal right to do so. 
> Therefore, he urges that free software developers use the GPL to 
> prevent situations like this from occurring.
>
> Notice that the FSF does nothing at all

Except file bogus lawsuits in attempts to intimidate folks into
believing the GPL is an enforceable legal contract.

> to prevent software developers from doing anything they wish, as 
> long as they do not involve themselves with GPLed code. They 
> operate by presenting attractive alternatives so that developers 
> of non-free software are disadvantaged in the marketplace by 
> having to duplicate functionality that is available for free to 
> free software developers.

> To the extent that this upsets you, they are succeeding.

Upset? I don't have to file bogus copyright lawsuits to concisely
express my views. That fact leaves me at peace.

Sincerely,
Rjack :)