[DotGNU]Revision 1 Philosophy file

[Silvernerd]

Hi everybody,

thanks to the helpful suggestions David Nicol made me, I've been able to
work the grammar bugs and some bad phrasings out of the Philosophy file
(at least I hope I did). The result is sticked to this e-mail. Comments
are welcome.



-- 
Silvernerd (Peter Minten)

"Using Linux is like walking over a ray of bricks, not as beautiful, but
a lot more substantial than light."

DotGNU philosophy file

Copyright (C) 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 2002 FreeDevelopers.Net.

-- DRAFT VERSION --
-- REVISION 1 -

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this document, but changing it is not allowed.

--

This software is Free Software, not Open Source software. The Free Software 
movement is idealistic and tries to tackle questions related to freedom, 
ethics, principle and improving society. The Open Source movement avoids these 
questions.

Please note that if this document refers to free it refers to freedom to use, 
copy, modify and distribute, not to freedom of price.

This program is part of the DotGNU project. The goal of the DotGNU project is 
to create 'an operating system for the Internet'. DotGNU provides a platform on 
which web based applications, so called 'webservices', can run. Microsoft is 
also working on such a system called .NET, we believe that the concepts behind 
.NET are bad for the user. To prevent Microsoft from gaining yet another 
monopoly on the webservice platform, DotGNU was called into existence.

One of the bad ideas in .NET is the possibility of what is called vendor 
lock-in. Vendor lock-in is what happens when a user has been using a resource 
and wants to move to a different, competing resource, but the resource provider 
makes that difficult or impossible, through 'closed formats,' such as word 
processor document formats. Without the old webservice the user cannot access 
the data in it's files and is therefore forced to use that webservice.
DotGNU solves this problem by making it mandatory for webservices providers to 
give their users the executable code (and the source code if the user wants 
this) of their webservice if the user asks for it. The user can then run the 
webservice locally and use it's files. Problem solved.

Another problem we have with .NET is the single-authentication service called 
Microsoft Passport. This system lets users store their data on a central server 
controlled by Microsoft. This creates great security threats because a cracker 
can then crack that server and get the personal information of millions of 
people. Also the government of the country in which the server is located could 
pass legislation allowing it access to that data. This would allow that country 
to spy on people. And of course the single-authentication service will be a 
major monopoly, which is bad for the users (anybody who ever looked at a blue 
screen saying that the system has crashed will know the consequence of this).

DotGNU provides several competing but interoperable single-authentication 
systems. Our systems can run on either a remote server under the same 
conditions as webservices or it can run on the user's own computer. This will 
make it harder for unauthorized individuals or groups to get at confidential 
personal information.

DotGNU was founded by the GNU project and Free Developers. The GNU project is a 
giant Free Software project with the goal to create a free operating system 
with applications. Today the GNU project has accomplished this goal, the 
operating system GNU/Linux is now used by millions of users. Note that we use 
the term GNU/Linux to recognize the tremendous effort that the GNU people have 
put (and are still putting) into the system as well as the superb job the Linux 
folks did and do. There are also other GNU operating systems like GNU/BSD, 
GNU/Tru64 and GNU/HURD. The different GNU systems are all highly compatible. 
The GNU project is highly dedicated to the principle of giving users the 
freedom to use, modify, copy, and distribute programs. Also the GNU project has 
made it a goal to create free documentation. 

FreeDevelopers is a democratic entity for the development of free software. The 
free company, probably the first of its kind in the world, will be owned and 
run by developers worldwide on a democratic basis in a sacred trust for the 
benefit and protection of the world's citizens. It will pay all developers to 
work on free software, and all developers will receive company shares and stock 
options, also. All software of the free company will be licensed under the 
General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html> (GPL 
<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>) and remain free/open forever, because 
all software must be available to all current and future generations of 
developers, so that they can be the first line of defense to protect the world 
from the inevitably tyrannical tendencies of proprietary software. 

Links:
 
 DotGNU homepage:
        www.dotgnu.org

 GNU homepage:
        www.gnu.org

 FreeDevelopers homepage:
        www.freedevelopers.net

 The differences between Free Software and Open Source:
        http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html. 

 Why we use the term GNU/Linux
        http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html