The "soft things" discussed on this list...

Ian wrote in part:
> "Stephen J. Turnbull" <[email protected]> writes:
> 
>> This is one of the fundamental problems in our community.  There is no
>> consensus about what we're trying to promote.  That means that we
>> often talk at cross-purposes about what a "FSB" should or shouldn't
>> do, what government interventions are desirable, etc.  I think some of
>> the differences are too fundamental to achieve consensus across the
>> entire FLOSS community, but with better understanding of what we agree
>> on and disagree on, we can form factions to promote controversial
>> agenda, and broader alliances where there are common understanding of
>> the public interest.

> From my perspective what you describe as a fundamental problem is
> simply the reality to be accepted, not a problem to be solved.

Welcome to politics!

We geeks, who spend our lives forcing things to be represented
as 0 and 1's, have trouble embracing the compromise and shades of
gray that are politics.  We tend to approach software licenses
as if they were programs, and users as a set of feature requests.
Politicians and lawyers are the enemy of progress.

I have always been a software developer, but the more I learn,
understand, and think about "soft things", the more successful
I am in delivering value.  This FSB list always has food for
thought.  I will always have a lot to learn, I think.