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Re: [LI] Message from RMS.
>>"Arun" == Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Arun> 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.
Arun> It doesn't work that way in practice - because of selfishness.
Really? So there is no code being given away? there is no fee
OS? There are no free CD's given away at trade shows and to LUGs?
Does not work that way in practice? I must be living in an
impractical world ;-)
Arun> If I have Rs 5 in my pocket, I'll keep it there so that it is
Arun> accessible only to me, as opposed to making it freely available
Arun> to someone who is needier than me, to whom the value of Rs 5 is
Arun> more than it is to me. Effectively an example of Raj's
Arun> "increasing the wealth" argument.
Arun> However, when the difference in needs crosses a threshold,
Arun> philanthropy kicks in and sidelines selfishness. Lots of people
Arun> contributed to the Orissa disaster fund for example.
I think there is a subtle contradiction here.
Arun> You may point out that I'm talking more about money here and not
Arun> freedom and accessibility. But in practice, they're so interrelated
Arun> that you can't talk about one without the other. There are several
Arun> examples of making lots of money, by denying certain freedoms.
I think the free software movement has proved this thesis incorrect.
Tell me again why I spend about 25hours a week on Debian,
instead of billing more hours at my hourly rate (it is not as if I
can't get the work).
Tell the people whose work we all use daily who wrote the code
under DFSG free licences why all that is so very impractical.
manoj
eaegr for teh the explanation
--
Do you know the difference between education and experience?
Education is what you get when you read the fine print; experience is
what you get when you don't. Pete Seeger
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@xxxxxxxxxx> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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