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Re: Free software, proprietary software and Stalin



Hello Folks,

Throwing a radical spanner in to the discussion

Free Software is the protest from the thinkers who are "on strike"

I/We just refuse to sell software to people who will further exploit me (and
not give credit :-)

So for me free software comes closer to objectivism than anything else

I have a whole lot more on that - BUT - then it is a personal opinion and
few people would give a damn about objectivism

Cheers
Tarique

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Creating not just Web Sites but Web Applications
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Search Engine for Nagpur http://nagpurcity.net
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-----Original Message-----
From: Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: linux-india-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<linux-india-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, February 28, 2000 6:14 PM
Subject: Re: [LIG] Free software, proprietary software and Stalin


>On Mon, Feb 28, 2000 at 10:51:33PM +0530, Raj Mathur wrote:
>> Hi advocacy-type D00dz,
>>
>> Ah well, once again having to explain the difference between goods and
>> software... this time I'll try to use words of one syllable :-)
>>
>> Goods: a thing you can touch.
>> Software: a thing you can not touch.
>>
>> Goods: if I give you mine, I have less.
>> Software: if I give you mine, we both have.
>
>I understand the distinction that you're trying to make. But I simply
>don't accept that distinction. We live in an economy where the two
>are mixed.
>
>I can sing a song, write a book and buy a car. What is your defense ?
>
>> Communism: share wealth so that each has equal.
>
>And wealth includes both the types that your describe above.
>
>> Free software (RMS style): share wealth to increase it without
>> reducing anyone else's share.
>
>Not true. You've reduced the share of people who rely only things
>of the first type. You're just arguing that if I'm a singer, I should
>just give up my profession and start working on things that people
>can touch ?
>
>> Ah well, I'm sure Arun will insist on failing to see the essential
>> difference between an ice cream and a piece of code, and I shall be
>> treading this ground again pretty soon :-)
>
>As long as I can give someone a piece of code and get an ice cream,
>yes.
>
>>
>> <rambling> It really depends on your view of life: do you consider
>> yourself to live in abundance, or do you consider yourself stricken by
>> poverty?  If the latter, then it makes sense to grab every penny out
>> of every ++ that you can put into a file and name it ``.c''.  If the
>> former you can think beyond yourself and try to see the big picture.
>> </rambling>
>
>It's not about greed - as you've pointed out. It's about choice. I
>can and still do - donate money/code as I wish. Not because someone
>forces me to.
>
>Let me stress again that I'm not opposed to all of Stallman's principles.
>I'm just opposed to his exclusivity.
>
> -Arun
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>LIG is all for free speech.  But it was created for a purpose - to help
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>