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Re: [Fsfe-uk] Why FS is a Good Thing: Draft 3
From: |
ralph |
Subject: |
Re: [Fsfe-uk] Why FS is a Good Thing: Draft 3 |
Date: |
Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:37:24 +0000 |
Hi Ramin,
My devil's advocate hat time again...
> Science owes its explosive growth over the past century to the free
> and open exchange of ideas. As Isaac Newton said in a letter to his
> colleague Robert Hooke dated 5 February 1676, ``If I have seen
> further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.'' Free
> Software is in the process of recreating this explosion of ideas in
> the world of Information Technology. The Free Software Foundation,
> founded by Richard Stallman in 1984, exists to write and support
> Free Software through it's spearhead project known as GNU (GNU's Not
> Unix) which is a collection of programs for a Unix-like operating
s/it's/its/
I really don't think a recursive acronym will warm others to Free
Software :-) `Complexity for complexity's sake.' `A load of geeks
that find it amusing.' Etc.
> Free Software such as that distributed under the GPL ensures four
> freedoms: (i) the freedom to run the program, for any purpose, (ii)
> the freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your
> needs, (iii) the freedom to redistribute copies so you can help
> others and (iv) the freedom to improve the program, and release your
> improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
Too many commas?
> The Association for Free Software supports the use of Free Software
> because:
>
> \begin{itemize}
>
> \item Most software is written in-house and never sold, and in this
> case software patents are a hindrance. Free Software is not a
> commodity, it is more like infrastructure -- freely available to all
> businesses and an enabler of progress and innovation.
Software patents seem to appear out of the blue here. `Who was talking
about software patents?' They're not mentioned again either.
> \item Support for Free Software is often much better than support for
> proprietary software. Mailing lists, bulletin boards and newsgroups
> exist where users post questions and receive prompt and helpful
> replies. People are encouraged to report bugs and these are quickly
> fixed.
Is `web forum' a more familiar term than `bulletin board' these days?
I thought it was very good overall.
Cheers,
Ralph.