Re: Free software, proprietary software and Stalin

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Feb 29, 2000 at 08:12:06AM -0000, SANIsoft wrote:
> 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 :-)

If you "sell" software, you're by definition not exploited, unless you
didn't get a fair price for the software you wrote.

Why do you think someone who is selling you software is exploiting you ?
The only way I can see exploitation happening is if you're paying more
than what the software is worth or you (as the author) is getting less than
what you deserve for the work.

Either way, in a free market economy, you're "free" to go sell your own
software at a fair price to kick the over priced software company out
of the market.

> 
> 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

I'm a little surprised that you mentioned objectivism and free software in
the same breath.

Have you read the two URLs below ?

http://www.objectivism.org/home.html
http://microsoft.aynrand.org/microsoft.html

But after reading the websites above, I do see what you're getting to. 
Specifically, the politics section in this URL:

http://www.objectivism.org/objectivism/essentials.html

<quote>
Politics
                       "The basic social principle of the Objectivist
                       ethics is that no man has the right to seek values
                       from others by means of physical force - i.e.,
                       no man or group has the right to initiate the
                       use of physical force against others. Men have
                       the right to use force only in self-defense and
                       only against those who initiate its use. Men
                       must deal with one another as traders, giving
                       value for value, by free, mutual consent to mutual
                       benefit. The only social system that bars physical
                       force from human relationships is laissez-faire
                       capitalism. Capitalism is a system based on
                       the recognition of individual rights, including
                       property rights, in which the only function of the
                       government is to protect individual rights, i.e.,
                       to protect men from those who initiate the use of
                       physical force." Thus Objectivism rejects any form
                       of collectivism, such as fascism or socialism. It
                       also rejects the current "mixed economy" notion
                       that the government should regulate the economy
                       and redistribute wealth.
</quote> 

So you're basically saying that free software is some sort
of civil disobedience movement in a capitalistic society. So you're
basically opposing the system, by being a part of it and playing by
its rules ? Using a license to defeat licenses ?

In any case, the conflict between objectivism and free software is
all too clear in the above quote - objectivism and collectivism don't
go together.

	-Arun