Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!twwells!bill From: bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: The GNU Public License Message-ID: <1989Jul30.210646.12194@twwells.com> Date: 30 Jul 89 21:06:46 GMT References: <26@ark1.nswc.navy.mil> <26719@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <5351@ficc.uu.net> <9655@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Followup-To: alt.flame Organization: None, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Lines: 33 In article <9655@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> markv@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mark T Vandewettering) writes: : The pro-GNU forces will undoubtably flame me soundly, that's okay, I : have my asbestos undies on. They seem to outnumber the counter-GNU : forces by a considerable margin. That's okay too, I am often in the : minority. Most of the anti-GNUs have learned that arguing with those who approve of the GNU philosophy is like arguing with medieval religious fanatics: there is no positive gain to be had, and one is likely to get torched as well! (There maybe ought to be a smiley there, but while the modern torching is metaphorical, it is just as real.) The GNU philsophy is so brain-damaged that no person who actually *thinks* about it would hold it. (For clarification, I'm referring to the ideas relating to intellectual property rights, not to the idea of providing free software.) I will not attempt to prove this here; the GNUists do not use reason to uphold their position, why should I be so stupid as to try to use reason to convince them that they are wrong? Reality itself might teach them, but I won't try. But to those who are confused about the issue, I will just point out that the FSF is a parasite on that which they despise. Consider the status of a parasite that would kill its host, the morality of a person who would destroy the society that makes his morality practicable, and the rationality of biting the hand that feeds you. Good day and good premises. --- Bill { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill bill@twwells.com