Redefining Freedom

[Mike Schwartz]

On 7/18/06, alandd at consultpros.com <alandd at consultpros.com> wrote:

> > I came across this piece (I think from the Freespire).
> > Thought some of you might find it interesting.
> >
> > http://www.silverstrandsolutions.com/freedom/redefiningfreedom.html
> > --
> > -Eric 'shubes'
>
> You are correct about the Freespire aka Linspire connection.  Background
> on the author, Patrick L. Green is on this page
> http://www.silverstrandsolutions.com/about.html where he is clearly
> identified as a "Linspire Insider"  For what that is worth.
>
> My opinion:
>
> Interesting and well written, mostly.  The style is too wordy for my taste
> but then I'm an engineer and enjoy clear, direct communication.
>
> He fails to define what is bad about the Free Software philosophy from a
> technical and objective standpoint.  He doesn't like to be labeled a bad
> citizen for using non-Free Software combined with Free Software.  This, he
> defines as taking away his freedom to choose to use non-Free Software if
> he wants.
>
> OK.  Rude people are everywhere and people who disagree with you are
> everywhere too.  That doesn't address the merits (or demerits) of the Free
> Software Movement's goals.  Nor does it remove his freedom to choose to
> use non-FS.
>
> His examples for the statement that "Americans willfully choose reasonable
> restrictions on their constitutional rights to meet a want or a need" have
> NOTHING to do with constitution rights.  He cites:
> - Having to wear a shirt and shoes to get a Slurppie.
> - Having to wear a tie and not peirce his lip to get a professional job.
> - Not being allowed to talk about religion, politics or lifestyles in the
> workplace.
> NONE of these examples have to do with constitutional rights.  He lost
> some credibility with me right there.
>
> In acknowledging the current abuses of the copyright and patent systems,
> he fails to address how these can or should be rectified.  Then he offers
> the confusing statement "not all things have to be open to the public
> domain."  Is this an attempt to confuse copyrighted, licensed Free
> Software with works in the public domain, as many clueless reporters do?
> I don't know but someone new to the FS vs. close software discussion could
> be confused at this point.
>
> Brining up "handcuffs" and "losing the freedom to chose" again borders on
> FUD.  Using FS does not remove the ability to use non-FS right alongside
> it.  Never has.  Some corners of the community may bring pressure against
> doing so, he complained about that earlier.  But usually there is no
> license violation happening by doing so.  At least not a violation of the
> GPL but you'll have to check your own non-FS EULAs.  ;^)
>
> Next is the tired, but too often true, complaint that current FS users
> unduly pick on, intimidate or ostracize new non-technical users.  While I
> have not been subject to hardly any of this sort of thing, horror stories
> do come up.  I agree with him that we current users need to be sure we
> help new people come into the community.  PLUG is very good at this!
>
> Now comes the "new" definition of freedom and community.
>
> I'm sorry but I cannot classify Warren Woodford (of MEPIS) as a visionary.
> I have researched the issue of licensing in the MEPIS distro and have
> found it lacking in several ways.  I have not researched much on the
> licensing practices of Linspire and Kevin Carmony but am quite willing to
> embrace people and developers that follow good licensing practice.  Warren
> Woodford does not do so and therefore receives scorn from the community,
> deservedly in my opinion.
>
> His thesis that people who mix FS and OSS software with proprietary pieces
> cannot be considered a good citizen is wrong. It is very possible to be a
> good citizen of the FS and OSS community and still produce and sell closed
> source software.  How?
> - By clearly crediting the authors of the FS and OSS software that you
> distribute.
> - By clearly identifying the licenses of all software you distribute.[1]
> - By clearly understanding and following the licenses of all software you
> distribute.[2]
> - By allowing open processes in which you participate to proceed by the
> rules defined at their inception.[3]
>
> [1]http://www.newsforge.com/comments.pl?sid=53313&cid=121990
> [2]http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/06/23/1728205&tid=150
> [3]http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4417146902.html
>
> It is the integrity of ones behavior that defines good citizenship to most
> FS advocates.  To the extent that so called "visionaries" violate the
> spirit of the community, trying to take more than is given, is the extent
> that they will continue to be pushed to the fringe.  Except for the few
> rude zealots, the FS and OSS community already has the "new concepts" of
> "Tolerance toward other lifestyle choices known as proprietary software
> and kindness towards new entries in our community."  Linspire, MEPIS or
> any other FS/OSS vendor can be a good citizen and keep their closed
> software too.  They just have to play within the rules (licenses and
> spirit) of the community.
>
> That is my response to that, for what it is worth.
>
> Alan
> [...]


in regard to this:

> Next is the tired, but too often true, complaint that current FS users
> unduly pick on, intimidate or ostracize new non-technical
> users.  While I
> have not been subject to hardly any of this sort of thing, horror stories
>do come up.  I agree with him that we current users need to be sure
> wehelp new people come into the community.  PLUG is very good
> at this!

if I may add my 0.02, so far in my experience most Linux users
are helpful to newbies -- especially those who are sorta mature and
who are not insecure and don't really worry too much about their own
"status" as far as knowledge and "one-upmanship".
I think that this discussion
list, and the install fests, and even the stamm tisch (the one time I went
to that I was probably the greenest n00bie there), and the W side
meetings, and PLUG in general, are all good examples of that.

obviously there are some folks who try to outdo each other on
being impressive in some way, but even when/where there is a
place and time for that, I think scaring away newbies should be
the furthest thing from our minds;  and so far, in my experience,
that has been the case.  Because, being smarter than a beginner,
doesn't prove much;  plus, it might unnecessarily confuse and
even alienate a new person.  So most Linux users (including
experts), in my experience, are not guilty of mistreating
beginners.  On the contrary, they usually go way out of their
way, to be helpful.

Alsol, on a personal note, the one thing I really liked about
Linspire was being able to buy some hardware, brand new
out of the box, and know that none of the money was going
to Micro$oft.  However, I promptly loaded Fedora Core on
to that box (also added some more RAM), and do not
use the Linspire much - hardly at all.
-- 
Mike Schwartz
Glendale  AZ
schwartz at acm.org
Mike.L.Schwartz at gmail.com
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