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Date:      Mon, 22 May 2000 21:36:05 -0600
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>, Gregory Sutter <gsutter@zer0.org>
Cc:        Arun Sharma <adsharma@sharmas.dhs.org>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: The Ethics of Free Software
Message-ID:  <4.3.1.2.20000522213325.0446bc00@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <20000523085510.A5994@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
References:  <20000522170335.B94994@azazel.zer0.org> <20000521131809.A6546@sharmas.dhs.org> <20000522170335.B94994@azazel.zer0.org>

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At 09:25 PM 5/22/2000, Rahul Siddharthan wrote:

>The original article glosses over what I think is the real point
>behind free software, and the rebuttal also does not tackle this point
>as firmly as it could: that is, software is a tool, not just a work of
>art, and therefore you should have the freedom to tinker with it just
>as you can tinker with your music system or your car.  Bob Young's
>comparison of closed-source software with "a car whose hood is welded
>shut" is excellent.

No, it's not. Creative works are very different from physical objects.
And looking under the hood of a car doesn't give you the ability to
create unlimited numbers of identical cars, thereby depriving the
automobile manufacturer of any future reward from his work.

--Brett Glass



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