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Date:      Sat, 05 May 2001 21:36:44 -0600
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        Joe Warner <rootman@xmission.com>, "G. Adam Stanislav" <adam@whizkidtech.net>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Is Brett Glass to easy on RMS?
Message-ID:  <4.3.2.7.2.20010505212911.00c3d3a0@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <01050521265200.00648@blackmirror.xmission.com>
References:  <4.3.2.7.2.20010505205342.00c3d2a0@localhost> <3.0.6.32.20010505194927.00875100@mail85.pair.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20010505205342.00c3d2a0@localhost>

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At 09:16 PM 5/5/2001, Joe Warner wrote:

>I hear you but IMO, whether it's BSD or Linux, we're all part of
>the Open Source community 

Actually, Richard Stallman himself says that GPLed software is
NOT open source. (See Dave Winer's essay at

http://davenet.userland.com/2000/09/15/whatIsOpenSource

and also RMS' own remarks on the FSF Web site.) And, despite
the hand-waving of ESR and a few others, the GPL actually
violates Point 6 of the Open Source Definition in that it
discriminates -- very much so! -- against a group of
people and a field of endeavor. GPLed software is
not open source.  

>and I think it's high time to bury the
>hatchet.  This rings especially true to me after re-reading Craig
>Mundie's speech that condemns aspects of Open Source.  I get
>more agitated each time I read it.

Mundie's speech is irritating to me too, most especially 
because it intertwines some very valid points (It's true, 
for example, that "give-it-all-away" business models are 
foolish) with some obvious falsehoods. But the GPL, and 
Stallman's essays on the FSF site, do the same! As Adam 
has pointed out, Microsoft and the FSF are two sides of 
the same coin. Both are power-hungry and are out to hurt 
and to mislead.

BSD should claim the ethical high ground here. When BSD
says it's free software, it really means it. No nonsense
about "free speech" vs. "free beer," or "keeping" software
free by keeping it away from people who need it. BSD is
free software. GPLed software isn't.

--Brett


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