Re: [OS:N:] Re: Questionaire about the support of students rights and the freedom in the learning environment

On Thu, 2003-08-14 at 05:07, James Michael DuPont wrote:

> It does not matter how nicely you package the contracts to rob the
> students of thier freedoms, in the end they are the ones loosing. Even
> if you give them a warm and fuzzy feeling at the same time.

Wrong!  It does matter how nicely you package the contents, then entire
advertising industry is built on this principle and people ARE willing
to give up freedoms (Windows) in order to use a product.  If Red Hat was
being so devious there would be NO OTHER alternative documentation other
than their courseware.  That is not the case and the folks at Red Hat
have been very conscious about making open contributions to the
community.


> does not matter how you portray it, they are still losing out. Our
> friends at digital rights can pay their morgage and buy nice clothes.
> Great, give your self a pat of the back, you are teaching them about
> "open source" but nothing about freedom, in fact you are taking their

You are confusing freedom with free as in beer.  Your words "teaching
them about open source but nothing about freedom" again suggests that
you equate freedom with free as in beer.  You are saying that open 
source does not equal freedom, yet freedom is one of the cornerstones 
of open source software.

Actually much of this argument reminds me of when Linux Magazine (not
Linux Journal) introduced Microsoft-sponsored ads into their magazine. 
Some people, including subscribers, were turned off and slammed LM for
selling out, others wrote in defending the move.  (One noting that it
proved Microsoft was scared)

I believe authors should be able to protect their intellectual property
(see my sci-fi argument in other posts).  

> The issue here that you are all forgetting is the students rights. All
> this talk about IP and restrictions, no one is talke about the
> students. 

Students (like me) have the right to learn without an instructor and
without taking a course.  The fact that there are people out there 
writing books that I can go out and buy means I don't have to be forced
to take someone's course - I'm free to learn on my own in my own time. 
If I so choose I can also find HOWTO's, full books (O'Reilly DocBook)
and other free as in beer materials online to learn from.  

Cheers,

Charles


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