Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!bbn.com!cosell From: cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: The GNU Public License Message-ID: <43524@bbn.COM> Date: 31 Jul 89 15:05:20 GMT References: <1989Jul30.210646.12194@twwells.com> <1811@hudson.acc.virginia.edu> Sender: news@bbn.COM Reply-To: cosell@BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell) Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA Lines: 44 In article <1811@hudson.acc.virginia.edu> gl8f@Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes: }In article <1989Jul30.210646.12194@twwells.com> bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) writes: } }>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.) } }Why argue with them? They give away software; you can either use it }or not. You can agree with their opinions about intellectual property }or not. Best of all, you can ignore them completely. I live with }lots of people with whom I disagree, yet I live in peace. The problem is that because they want to give away *their* software, they are trying to get the laws changed so that they will force *everyone* to give away their software. I think it is important to point out the flaws in the FSF-style view of the world so that folks who might otherwise be bedazzled into thinking it _might_ really all be able to work will be able to see clearly theboundardies and limits on the whole approach. }FSF will not kill the computer industry. And why is this in comp.misc }anyway? Intellectual property rights sounds more like a topic for }misc.legal, imminent death of this or that for misc.headlines or }alt.conspiracy, and parasites for sci.medical. Sweeping insults }of the intelligence of this or that group is appropriate for }alt.flame, not cross-posts. Granted there is no need for flamage... but there IS some need to clearly illuminate what it is, really, that the FSF is talking about doing to the industry. They have offered a philosophical position and are confronting us with it. If they just quietly gave their software away and were done with it, that'd be one thing. But to the extent that they proseletyze, organize demonstrations, try to get laws passed/fixed, their positions are worth debating and the fallacies (from my point of view) of their version of the 'story' illuminated and exposed, so that folks who might be swayed by the rush of their arguments (even while being seduced by a particular bit of FSF software that they might be using) can see exactly what it is they might be buying into. __ / ) Bernie Cosell /--< _ __ __ o _ BBN Sys & Tech, Cambridge, MA 02238 /___/_(<_/ (_/) )_(_(<_ cosell@bbn.com