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
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