Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!bbn!gateway!RELAY-NSWC.NAVY.MIL!dsill From: dsill@RELAY-NSWC.NAVY.MIL (Dave Sill) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: Advertising on comp.emacs Message-ID: <33379@bbn.COM> Date: 12 Dec 88 14:30:49 GMT Sender: news@bbn.COM Organization: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA Lines: 27 Rick Farris writes: >In article <8812091624.AA14077@wheat-chex.ai.mit.edu> tower@WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) writes: >~Please note that if you have to buy tapes from someone, buying them from >~FSF helps create more GNU software. All the surplus from tape sales >~goes to pay FSF programmers and technical writers. > >And if you buy emacs from Unipress, the surplus goes to paying >Unipress programmers and technical writers. What's the point? The point is that the Free Software Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, and the software they develop is free*. While one may not agree philosophically with the principle of Software Socialism, the FSF *is* providing a service of great benefit to the community. Can you say the same about any for-profit organization? Would you rather fund more free software or some company president's Jaguar? *We need a better word than free. Most people mistakenly interpret this to mean "without cost" rather than "without restriction". (A sad commentary on society, particularly in a country founded on freedom...) The obvious alternatives: "emancipated" and "sovereign" or "sovran" seem somewhat cumbersome. ========= The opinions expressed above are mine. "The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be." -- Paul Valery