Re: [LI] Message from RMS.

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had a good nights sleep and I think all of us have made our points.
The GPL vs others debate is not that simple a issue. We've all made
our points. We respect each others decisions. And lets continue to
use our own licenses and preach our own morals. Hey, I like Linus
Torvalds on this one - don't complain about other people's licenses.
Don't use their code if you don't like their license.

But the competition to win over developers to whatever license camp 
you're in - will continue.

So for the rest of this thread, I'll not address GPL in particular
(because I feel I've made my point) - but other peripheral points.

On Sat, Dec 04, 1999 at 04:12:48AM -0600, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> 
>  Arun> That is communism in my book. In your view of the world,
>  Arun> software, which you define as wealth should be free for all. In
> 
>         Free, as in openly accessible. Free, as in Librè. Equal
>  opportunity. 

It doesn't work that way in practice - because of selfishness. If
I have Rs 5 in my pocket, I'll keep it there so that it is accessible
only to me, as opposed to making it freely available to someone who
is needier than me, to whom the value of Rs 5 is more than it is to
me. Effectively an example of Raj's "increasing the wealth" argument.

However, when the difference in needs crosses a threshold, philanthropy
kicks in and sidelines selfishness. Lots of people contributed to
the Orissa disaster fund for example.

You may point out that I'm talking more about money here and not
freedom and accessibility. But in practice, they're so interrelated
that you can't talk about one without the other. There are several
examples of making lots of money, by denying certain freedoms.

I can also do paintings for great philanthropist <foo>'s house free
of cost, while allowing people to make as many copies of the painting 
as they want and still get paid as much money as the artist <bar>,
who makes money selling copyrighted paintings. But the number of 
painters philanthropists can accommadate will always be less than 
the number of painters selling their paintings.

I'd rather be the painter who makes money selling his paintings and
occassionally donate some to the public museum and teaching promising
kids what I know free of cost. 

I'll deny anyone on this list the freedom of taking away my $1000
anyday and gain the freedom of flying out to the Carribean for a great
vacation :-)
	
	-Arun