Fwd: [GNU/FSF Press] Press release: FSF announces release of gNewSense 1.0

[Alexander Jacob Tsykin]

On Wednesday 08 November 2006 00:48, Shawn McMahon wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 07, 2006 at 11:07:45AM +1100, Alexander Jacob Tsykin said:
> > > Was Linux non-free before Linus' first upload?
> >
> > yes
>
> By that standard, every time you type "vi scriptname" and bang out
> "#!/bin/bash" you're sitting there hoarding knowledge, you enemy of
> freedom with your non-free script!
>
> Until it's distributed, get over it.
You will never hear me say that non-free software is inherently evil. But, in 
any case, unless software is explicitly distributed under a free license, 
such as the GPL, it is non-free.

However, this argument is not terribly relevant to Launchpad because it is 
distributed. You can ask for the source, and you'll get it, you just cant 
distribute it yourself. It is not freely distributable so it is not free.

Sasha