Re: Shut Up With The Open Source Politics, OK?

Bill,

I am sorry that you do not understand the relevance of social and
political awareness as it relates to Free/Open Source Software. It is
vitally important that the "Free Speech not Free Beer" understanding be
communicated clearly and repeatidly so that new users develop a sense of
what freedoms they should be seeking and protecting going forward.
Without this knowledge, organizations will be limited to evaluating the
benefits of open vs. closed systems based on price alone. 

When a company looks at price alone, they stand a greater chance of
making the wrong decision (and thereby locking themselves into a closed
technology) when the vendor offers them the software for little or even
no cost.

I seriously hope that you spend some time reading some of the docs over
at fsf.org or better yet, how about spending $20 and buying a copy of
Richard Stallman's "Free Software, Free Society". 

The most important thing about Free Software is not whether it performs
better than its closed alternatives or whether it is more cost
effective. The real value of Free Software is that it is FREE (as in
Freedom). If users do not understand this point, they will not protect
their freedom down the road.

I for one, will not honor your request because I understand how
important it is to continue to spread this knowledge. I hope you'll see
the light and join me (and others) in this cause.

Thanks,

Adam Kosmin
WindowsRefund.net


billg ([email protected]) wrote:
" I'm increasingly annoyed by the politicization of much of the Linux community, or at least the part with a visible face on the web.
" 
" Too much ranting about evil corporations, evil monopolies, the evil RIAA and other assorted evil minions of The_People_Who_Don't_Use_linux. Stop shouting and go write some code, OK?  We understnad how you feel, honest.  But all that emoting and posturing isn't going to make a good OS better.
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