Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 10:28:50 -0500 From: "G. Adam Stanislav" <redprince@redprince.net> To: James Howard <howardjp@glue.umd.edu>, Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: Arun Sharma <adsharma@sharmas.dhs.org>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GPL only patents Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000516102850.0089c210@mail85.pair.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0005161044230.13181-100000@z.glue.umd.edu> References: <4.3.1.2.20000515234828.04172cf0@localhost>
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At 10:44 16-05-2000 -0400, James Howard wrote: >> Yes, I'm aware of this. Note that the philosophy here is that it's >> OK if the FSF enjoys the monopoly conferred by patents, but not if >> a programmer uses it to ensure that he is able to make a livelihood. >> Another example of how, in Richard Stallman's "Humpty Dumpty" >> world, some are "more equal than others." > >Does anyone else find the whole concept "predatory and anticompetitive?" As I have just argued on the Unicode list, I view the whole thing as a marketing gimmick. FSF gives away free software, then sells expensive manuals and "support". Nothing wrong with that alone, of course. The problem starts with exactly what you said: FSF is predatory and anticompetitive. It has turned its marketing strategy into an ideology: All software "must" be free, not just theirs. FSF also acts as a self-appointed messiah and representative of free software. Personally, I have been writing free software for decades, and I don't need anyone to act like my spokesperson. Stallman did not invent free software (the article discussed in a different threat clearly shows how the idea existed at Berkeley, for example), nor is he in any way the reason many of us give our software away. I find it offensive he is trying to take credit for other people's effort. I view Stallman and Microsoft as two sides of the same coin. Both try not to compete, but to control. Their tactics may be different, but it is the same predatory mindset that motivates them. Just MHO, of course. Adam To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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