Re: [LI] Message from RMS.

[Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@xxxxxxx>]

>>"Atul" == Atul Chitnis <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

 Atul> I hate to use this term here, but the approach by RMS and his
 Atul> followers is starkly communistic - not in the Marxian way, but
 Atul> in the "use the idealogy of communism to control and achieve
 Atul> one's goal" way used by Russia and East Germany.

        Actually, they use the perfectly capitalistic concept of
 intellectual property and copyright law to achieve what they believe
 is a protection of the end user. 

 Atul> Invoking the holy name of GPL everytime someone makes/talks
 Atul> money is a sure-fire way of killing the concept
 Atul> altogether. There are realities that are at work here, and GPL
 Atul> isn't playing the game by the rules.

        Rubish. Shoe me where there is a clause in the GPL that says
 you can't charge what you wish for your GPL'd software. The artistic
 licence has an (unenforceable) no charge clause, but not the GPL.

        I must say this is FUD.

 Atul> To top that, the "hippo-crazy" [sic] angle is strong, too. Even
 Atul> RMS had no hassles with accepting money for his work

        As I said, there is nothing under the GPL, or in RMS's
 statements, that is against charging money. Red Hat has a market
 capitalization of Billions selling essentially GPL'd software.

 Atul> (ironically part-sponsored by Microsoft), yet brutally mauls
 Atul> anyone who remotely stands a chance of making a bit of money
 Atul> with his work.

        Quote chapter and verse please. You are bordering on slander.

 Atul> And he drives people who lack a cause of their own into a

        That is something I have rarely been accused of.

 Atul> frenzy, which results in posts of the type we get subjected to
 Atul> every 3 months or so (dependent on the phase of the moon and
 Atul> other things, I guess).

        Taking the low road, I see.

 Atul> I see no sense at all in this approach. The whole idea behind
 Atul> OpenSource is the liberal-minded attitude that goes with
 Atul> it. GPL and RMS's strife-riddled, politically motivated
 Atul> "comments" on how the industry should evolve (in his own way of
 Atul> thinking) is turning away far too many people for comfort.

        The GPL is an integral part of the DFSG, and its offspring,
 the OSD.

        Personally, even Corel is trying to play fast and loose with
 the licence terms (did you know about a half dozen or so Debian
 developers are now legally barred from  using the Debian based Corel
 Linux?) 

 Atul> RMS seems to be hellbent on making Linux the bad boy, while at
 Atul> the same time desperately trying to latch onto the evergrowing
 Atul> popularity of Linux.

        No. He merely points out that the Linux kernel uses a lot of
 components of the GNU system, and in his opinion, the GNU project
 should be attributed to.

        Sounds reasonable to me. 

 Atul> What stops him from *finally* getting Hurd into a usable shape
 Atul> so that he can have his own "free" kernel?

        We are working on it. Stay tuned for Debian GNU/HURD, to be
 along side Debian GNU/Linux.

        The HURD is several decades ahead of UNIX based Linux OS --
 and cutting edge research operating systems take time to
 stabilize. Linux, after all, is based on 30 year old technology. The
 HURD is far newer.

 Atul> While it is true that Linux distros are built around GPL'd
 Atul> software, I should also point out that many of the people who
 Atul> wrote the software and GPL'd it were unaware of the politics
 Atul> associated with GPL, and how their work would be used to fight
 Atul> a bloody civil ware against their own people.

        You mean they were too stupid to understand the licence they
 were releasing their code under?  How dumb you think we are?

 Atul> A classic example of the damage being done is Ragoo's post - a
 Atul> mindless parroting of ideology without caring two hoots about
 Atul> the disruption and confusion being caused, or who gets
 Atul> hurt. "To make an omelette, you have to break eggs" seems to be
 Atul> the accepted approach - one that implies an uncaring attitude
 Atul> as well as an agenda.

        This is just as bad -- you castigate a whole philosophy
 because of one individual. Shall I remind you Ragoo is an indian as
 well as a GNU lover? Shall I say the same thing about indians just on
 this one example? 

        Logic, whre is thy sting?

 Atul> RMS's stand *used* to be (this may have changed) that software
 Atul> should be free, services should be charged.


        Oh god, not again. "FREE AS IN SPEECH, NOT FREE AS IN BEER"

        I give up. I am dissappointed at the amount of ignorance and
 bigotry displayed in this post.

 Atul>  Noble in concept,

        Indeed.

 Atul> but how does that relate to Ragoo's comments on people paying
 Atul> Rs.60 for food at a ILUG meet?

        Could it be because he is indian? That is just as logical as
 your accusation.

        

 Atul> I do not normally post something like this, and I know that
 Atul> someone is already filling the tanks of his flamethrower in
 Atul> preperation of roasting my butt, but I am *SICK* of such
 Atul> uncaring, disruptive and frankly mindless posts as friend Ragoo
 Atul> chose to unleash on the poor unsuspecting Linux newbies in
 Atul> Linux India. Who needs the Blue Screen FUD Brigade when we can
 Atul> destroy ourselves this way, all on our own?

        So you take it out on poor innocent, GPL lovers. IMHO, this
 post is equally distruptive as Ragoo's, and from a far more
 unexpected corner.

        I really expected better from you. Mea Culpa.

        manoj
 disheartened.
-- 
 She blinded me with science!
Manoj Srivastava   <srivasta@xxxxxxxxxx>  <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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