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http://blog.s11n.net

As anyone who has anything to do with [non-Windows] software development knows, GNU’s definition of “free” is “free as in freedom and free as in beer.” But what dictionary did the GPL author(s) use when looking up a definition for “freedom”?

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sgbeal's picture
Created by sgbeal 16 years 4 weeks ago – Made popular 16 years 4 weeks ago
Category: Philosophy   Tags:
akf's picture

akf

16 years 4 weeks 20 hours 53 min ago

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counter argument

This argumentation is not really new.

Read this text as counter argument:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html

aboutblank's picture

aboutblank

16 years 4 weeks 13 hours 16 min ago

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We should avoid being subject to a master

@GPL's intention
The four liberties are important because users should have the right to help themselves and cooperate within a community without concern to the author of a program. A user that chooses to forfeit any of these four essential liberties means that user has chosen to be subject to the master of that program. The GPL's purpose is to guarantee the four liberties of free software for EVERY recipient of the licensed program; no user of a GPL program will ever be subject to any master. The way it achieves this is by **restricting actions that may deprive upstream users (of the GPLd software) any of those four liberties**. We who believe in the essential freedoms do not care about any action that causes users to be subject to a master and so, we do not care about any right to subjugate users.

@The right to distribute software and publish improvements
Computer software is a tool that is used to instruct the computer to process some information. A characteristic of a good citizen is one that shares their resources with their community. Proprietary software prevents users from being good citizens as they disallow users from helping their community by disallowing the right to share the tool that is the computer program. Users might then help their community by sharing the program without regard to the author's wishes but society shouldn't have to live like that, society should strive to live upright lives and be free. Copyright law does not allow citizens to share derivate works without the copyright holder's permission. Society should be allowed to build upon other people's work as well as share their improvements so the whole community can benefit. That is why these two actions are explicitly defined.

@Freedom == choice?
Choice does not equate to freedom. If you were sentenced to gaol and you could choose what colour the walls you wanted the cell to be, you would still be an imprisoned man and not a free man. If you were a slave that could choose to serve a tyrant or a dictator, you would still be a slave no matter who your master is. If you choose to forfeit any free software right, you are subject to the master of the proprietary program; it doesn't matter if you have the right to get rid of it later, you will still not be free until you are no longer subject to the master. **Freedom in our context means being free from subjugation of a master**. In this context, there is no way the GPL uses some "perverted" definition of freedom as there is no master to be subject to.

@GPL acts like a dictator?
If you do not wish to be bound to the terms of the GPL, do not use GPLd code in your programs; nobody is forcing you to use another's GPLd code in your program. The GPL only works when the licensed program is shared others in society; distributors are only compelled to share code with recipients of the program. You are allowed to keep the code private if you keep the binary private.

@GPL discourages business use?
I think businesses such as IBM, RedHat, Canonical and Sun disagree with you about businesses being discouraged to include GPL software with their own programs. I do agree that the GPL will not be touched by many commerical entities and therefore will have a limited commerical audience. The people that run these entities are evil as they subjugate users with proprietary software and so, they will reject the GPL as it's intention is so all users be free from subjugation.

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Balzac

16 years 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago

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I don't think that blog-entry was worthy of being presented here

It was just some ramblings from a guy who doesn't get it.

The FSF is aware of the value of a more permissive license for some applications, but those who are critical of the GPL and perhaps jealous of its success are seemingly not aware of the value of the GPL which is strict in its protection of individual user freedoms.

It reminds me of self-professed "libertarians" who rant and rail about corporate freedoms, but don't put enough emphasis on the protection of individual civil liberties.

I also disagree with Linus Torvald about GPLv3 for similar reasons. Some people just don't seem to understand why we have to be vigilant in protecting our freedom.

dave's picture

dave

16 years 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago

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I can only guess

I can only guess that it was voted up by so many people to draw attention to it so that the community could have a chance to respond.

Sometimes it is good to draw out bad reviews and incorrect opinions so that they can be shown for what they are. You can then go to the original article and add to the discussion there as well as here on FSD.

The only way to make it clear why you are voting something up or down is to comment though so I encourage people to comment as well when they vote for articles because it gives more of an explanation.

My thanks go to everyone who do comment on a regular basis.

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