[gNewSense-users] Re: Freedom and webapps

[Yavor Doganov]

Dave Crossland wrote:
> On 05 Feb 2007 11:07:22 +0000, Ciaran O'Riordan <address@hidden> wrote:
> > "Dave Crossland" <address@hidden> writes:
> > > Please explain how a lack of sourcecode is immoral.
> >
> > Without source code, you can't see what the software [...]
> 
> I am proposing that this is a practical problem, not an ethical one.
> Please explain the ethical dimension of this.

Sharing is only one aspect of software freedom, with crucial
importance, of course.  But the other aspects are equally important
and all stem from an ethical stance.  This has always been the case
and will always will be -- the "practical problem" is something that
the Open Source campaign accents.   For the Free Software movement it
was always an ethical problem.

You can share the so called "freeware" too, but I bet that none on
this list will confuse it with free software.  Also, pay attention
that freedom 2 is "The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help
your neighbor" -- distributing software without corresponding source
code is not about helping your neighbor at all, it is about keeping
her helpless.

Free software is only indirectly related to "practical benefits" --
this is often the case, but it's a consequence, that's not the
essential thing.  Using free software is a matter of dignity.
Everyone deserves free software, like every human being deserves to
control their destiny.