Skype telephone giveaway- but not for Linux users
anthony baldwin
anthony.baldwin01 at comcast.net
Wed Jun 13 14:47:43 UTC 2007
manchicken wrote:
>On Wednesday 13 June 2007 08:32:47 Bruce Marshall wrote:
>
>
>>On Wednesday 13 June 2007, manchicken wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>It's an atrocity that a software company will not let you modify and
>>>>redistribute their code?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>Restricting freedom for the sake of profit is an atrocity.
>>>
>>>
>>You've got to be kidding! What planet do you live on?
>>
>>So if a drug company spends years and millions if not billions on
>>developing a new wonder drug, they should just give it away?
>>
>>Wow, whatta concept.
>>
>>
>
>You're intentionally missing the point. It's not about giving things away,
>it's about not restricting people.
>
>This practice of "competition" is inhibiting our ability to develop and
>distribute the software that we want in the manner we want to do so. We'd
>love to distribute DVD players, but thanks to proprietary codecs we're not
>able to. We'd love to have free software 3D drivers for video cards so that
>we can reliably use compositing and develop 3D video games, but thanks to
>this competition that you are praising these things are not possible right
>now.
>
>You're using flawwed arguments to support unjust practices.
>
>
>
I normally don´t jump into arguments like these, but, I have to say,
people do have a right to charge for their work.
I am an adamant support of FOSS, and the community´s principles of sharing,
freedom of information, etc.
But, at the same, time, I am also an artist, a photographer, a writer,
and a musician,
and, I do not believe that I am restricting the freedom of others when I
copyright a work
and expect to be paid for it. I do give away some art work and photos
to non-profits,
perform music for free at churches, write some things (and make
translations) that
I have released to the public domain...
(The Portuguese translation of the Gospel of St. Thomas on Wikipedia is
my work,
I´ve released photos to the public on kdelook for wallpapers, given
artwork to churches
and non-profits), etc.
But, I don´t feel obligated to give everything I do away.
I translate for a living, so, clearly, I charge for translation work.
So, I do believe that if someone writes a program and wants to charge
for it, by all means,
they should have that option.
I know that there are some people who contribute to FOSS, and, also,
write proprietary
software for a living. They should have that option. Everybody´s got
to pay rent, you know.
So, if someone writes a proprietary app and wants to charge for it, go
ahead.
The only time I would have a problem is when someone tells me that I
MUST use a proprietary app.
At this juncture, I have the choice/freedom to not use proprietary apps,
so I don´t.
I make a living using my computer using only GNU/Linux and FOSS.
I contribute (financially, that is, as I am no developer) to some of the
projects from which I benefit.
--
http://www.baldwinlinguas.com
http://www.photodharma.com
--------BEGIN GEEK CODE--------
Version: 3.1
GED/FA/H/L$ d-- s-:-- a C++ L+++ W++ w--- M PS++ PE-- PGP+ t+ tv-- b++++ G e++++ h---- r++++ y++++
--------END GEEK CODE----------
More information about the kubuntu-users
mailing list