Re: Formal Member Registration

["Indranil Das Gupta" <indradg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In any "movement"/"community" there are (and will be) people who will think differently than the majority... sometimes
this very difference can lead to major developments/progress... prehaps that is why in every democratically
controlled institution/organisation, the right of a person or a group to profess a different view is protected.

You certainly do have a point that Linux users comes from all walks of life and occupational backgrounds, with
different levels of interest, aptitude and polital views.... I respect your freedom to think
differently/independently... but I find it hard to digest that there is no "movement" or "community" w.r.t to
Linux/OSS...

Case in hand....

So many ppl from across India came down to B'lore for last year's IT.COM as volunteers and members of LI.... during the
5 days we all spent there, at least speaking for myself, I certainly felt being part of something__ -- certainly not of
a boys scout summer camp, but that we were one group, one community (I am not using the term "community" in a loose
sense)... the
principal underlying binding that held us all together was the technology and the love/fascination/admiration/fanaticsm
we shared for it... although the so-called "politics of Linux" was also in evidence.

There were so many visitors who were unable to comprehend at first what exactly we were doing if not selling something
and who stood amazed when it was explained to them....

Agreed that there should to be no overt politicising or placing an over-emphasis on the political aspects, there is no
escaping the fact that even the way you choose to live your life or even do what you do for a living is very much a
political statement. If the GNU/GPL is a political statement, by the same yardstick, the FreeBSD license model is as
much political as is the proprietory model of s/w licensing.... 

More than the political equation, I believe it is more a question of ethics and personal choice/convenience/suitability
we are dealing with as far as Linux is concerned when we talk of linux users.

I don't feel comfortable with the idea that Linux is good but GPL is bad. Sure... GPL does make things a little
difficult for ppl/organisations trying to commercially exploit the potentials of Linux... With so much of commercial
interest focussed on Linux and open source, IMHO the GPL is very much needed this day, if for nothing else just to make
sure that hackers/programmers the very ppl who built it all up continues to have the right to do what they have been
doing --> creating s/w, without any hindrance. Technical points aside, IMVHO, its precisely the GPL that makes Linux --
Linux and not FreeBSD!

--Indra

DISCLAIMER
-------------------
I am not an user of *BSD, my meagre ideas about FreeBSD License model is based largely upon what little I have read
from the
Net and Arun's postings on LIG et. al. Therefore, my understanding of the model may not be all that accurate, in which
case I would appreciate if someone (Arun included :) helps me in "getting the proper picture"...