RMS, Free software and the Ubuntu CDs

[Derek Broughton]

chinaski wrote:

> but then I step into this:
>>   Because Free Software is very often attractive for purely practical
>> reasons, we have collected tens of millions of users who choose Free
>> Software purely for practical benefits and do not appreciate the
>> freedom that we have given them.
>> 
>> These are the kind of people that *assume that you should choose
>> between Free Software and proprietary software based on practical
>> convenience*, which is another way of saying that they value freedom at
>> zero. How sad. How can freedom ever be safe, when people don't
>> appreciate it. People have had to fight for freedom, over and over.
>> 
>> And when people do not value their freedom, they are very likely to
>> lose it. But that's the fact. Most of our community does not appreciate
>> freedom.
>> RMS
>> http://tinyurl.com/ngbg9
>>  wow!
> 
> ok, I am not saying that anyone accepting non_free_sofware included in
> Ubuntu is likely to lose, irrespectful or free software and so on. not
> at all. I believe the fredoom of having an opinion and express stays
> before "freedom 0" ;)
> 
> but personally I totally agree with RMS: 100% or nothing.

I'm afraid he's wrong on a few grounds.

First, it's a completely American concept that if you don't value your
freedom, you'll lose it.  Freedom comes in degrees, and the vast majority
of the world's population has precisely as much freedom as they feel they
need.

Second, "practical convenience" is a darned good reason for choosing
software (or many other things).  I will _always_ choose the most practical
software - and "freedom" is one of the practicalities I measure.  If MS let
me use the software I need for no charge, I still need the more responsive
nature of active FLOSS projects & the freedom to make my own modifications
to be able to provide the service I provide.
-- 
derek