[PLUG] Kylix?

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Mon May 13 09:15:33 UTC 2002


On 12 May 2002, Aaron Baer wrote:
> *snip*
> but I would say that Free is automatically 
> Good and proprietary is automatically Evil.
> *snip*
> 
> I would think that this statement might be better stated as:
> 
> .. but I would say that _Open_ is automatically Good and _Proprietary_
> is automatically Evil...

Not to sound snippy, but I don't think you're at all qualified to tell me
how my ideals are "better stated".

Now, if you meant that you would rather say the above, that's fine.  But
it's not an improvement on my statement as long as I'm the "I".

> To be successful in any business you have to be profitable at some
> point.

Why limit yourself to the narrow confines of "business" and it's
one-sided, destructive notions of success?

> However, becoming a Good business might be better achieved by being
> open and supportive of the community and the world to better yourself
> and your fellow Humans.

Again, I say we should really start looking at alternatives to business
for valid means of social interaction.

> The things that brings me to Open Source software and Linux in
> particular is my belief and trust of it's Openness not because it's
> usually Free.

I'm having trouble understanding your capital Free here.  The sentence
implies to me that you're only considering the free-as-in-beer quality.

> It allows me to be an individual and gives me to freedom and access to
> become whatever my heart and mind desire.

But without the free-as-in-freedom quality, merely "open" software might
still (and often does) allow one to restrict the freedom of whole classes
of others in a perverse interpretation of personal freedom.  Free Software
prevents that kind of clearly anti-social behavior.

J.
-- 
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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