31–40 of 94 posts
I do, however, believe in property rights. As such, if a developer wishes his/her creation to be freely available, I believe that this wish should be respected under the creator's terms.
As for free software as an idea, I think it has been equal parts awesome and crap.
In general, I think the way I would say it is that I agree that, all things being equal, it would be better if all software were FOSS. The problem is not all things are equal and the GNU vision of FOSS is not helpful with that reality. Most often, when I find myself discussing FOSS, it's in a context where the FOSS advocate wants to push their overall goal for all software over the specifics of the situation.
There are a minority of software projects where I think it's very important, but I think the bulk of software projects can be closed source if that works best for the creators and I'm skeptical the harm outweighs the good.
So I believe in it but not the way GNU talks about it? And I think their approach probably does more harm than good.
I believe in free software but I do not like GNU and FSF zealotry. See: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html "Debian also maintains a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is 'not part of the Debian system,' but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily find these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database and…
I don't believe you believe in free software.
> Free software (or libre software)[1][2] is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions.
If you believe in that, how can you consider what the FSF stands for 'zealotry'? They are simply standing by their principles, which has undoubtedly pushed forward the state of the art in software over decades.
Earth could benefit from mass SSPL adoption. It's only (computer) science if it's verifiable and reproducible. To this end, free software is the way to go.
their goals might not be reachable, cause reality is rarely pure, but to me it's a principal necessity.
why? it's the counter weight to the microsoft of the late 90s and early 2000s. profit above all, we will try to get you, bind you and squeeze you with everything we can use - and more. GNU is the natural mirror perspective, which is needed for - balance.
and if we get a "more GNU" world ... i personally would think that is a good thing.
I believe in free software but I do not like GNU and FSF zealotry. See: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html "Debian also maintains a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is 'not part of the Debian system,' but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily find these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database and…
I understand why some feel they must be militant about this sort of thing and I'm grateful for their dedication; however, it's off putting to the general public and most of the community. I wish any effort, particularly those built around online communities, weren't infiltrated and run by the militant.
I believe in free software but I do not like GNU and FSF zealotry. See: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html "Debian also maintains a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is 'not part of the Debian system,' but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily find these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database and…
I understand why some feel they must be militant about this sort of thing and I'm grateful for their dedication; however, it's off putting to the general public and most of the community. I wish any effort, particularly those built around online communities, weren't infiltrated and run by the militant.
I believe in free software but I do not like GNU and FSF zealotry. See: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html "Debian also maintains a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is 'not part of the Debian system,' but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily find these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database and…
> I believe in free software but I do not like GNU and FSF zealotry I don't believe you believe in free software. > Free software (or libre software)[1][2] is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. If you believe in that, how can you consider what the FSF stands for 'zealotry'? They are sim…
Serious question - why should OP of that comment care at all?
This is the equivalent of a deeply religious person saying "I don't think you're very Christian"
Ok, that's fine. Good for you?
I believe in a Free Software. At the same time I do not believe at the Free Software. Without a way to pay for work of developers no software can be good enough. So in a way I do not believe in a FS. But I believe that we need to find a way to a Free Software, and that it can be found.
The GNU idea of Free Software being a side effect of learning and science is getting out of fashion due to constraints over the academic workers. Publish or perish is killing it.
The Linux idea of Free Software being "hey, I've solved this thing, maybe it can help you too" is being reborn with the recent revolt over maintenance burden and community bureaucracy.
The RedHat way of Free Software being a marketing tool was never reliable, but if you make developer tools, you must deal with it nowadays.
So, the same idea has a world of different motivations. Some are being fulfilled perfectly well, while others are hurting. In particular, the GNU ideal got spread way outside of the public that could hold it, and if on its core public, it's suffering. But it's not the only one motivation, and it's certainly not the most important one either, because it could never scale.
I've made some experiments on my phones (bot Android and IOS), and you would surprise how many of the apps are "calling home". Because those apps are closed source, God knows what information they are sending back to their servers.