Francis Earl wrote:
> Thing is, why should your freedoms be any more important than the original 
> authors who has chosen not to open source his code? He has that right, and if 
> his product is superior to alternatives, why wouldn't you use it?
Did King George have the freedom to rule pre-revolutionary America the 
way he did? Sure, but does that make it decent or right? We have the 
nation we have today (sic) because of those ideals and beliefs that made 
Americans Americans, and not Brits. The beliefs that everyone should be 
equal and that no one should have absolute control over anyone else. And 
that is what Free Software is about. That's what it was created to do 
nigh on 26 years ago, regardless of what the OSI and the Open Source 
movement has done to it.
I know I'm in the minority here, using GNU/Linux under the banner of 
Free Software (my freedom is important) and not Open Source (powerful 
applications that I can develop on using the open source method are 
important), but my freedoms are damn important.

> When open source and closed source options are equal, I will choose the open 
> software every time, but if that open source alternative is simply weaker, who 
> is really seeing the injustice?
Injustice is a funny word. Is it an injustice that you cannot further 
improve on that application should you want to? Is it an injustice to be 
unsure of whether your data is safe from the likes of third parties and 
unscrupulous coders?
Weaker is a funny word, too. Do you gauge strength on features? On the 
stability of software? Do you gauge it on the ability of the authors to 
support the software? Do you gauge it on the future maintainability of 
systems running that software? All of these things can vary wildly in 
proprietary software. Very rarely is there vapourware/abandonware in 
Free software, but you see that all too often in proprietary ecosystems. 
And the majority of the time all you are left with is an ancient binary 
and a headache as you search for another alternative.

Ryan

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