Which distro for the enterprise now?

On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 18:17, Phil Mattison wrote:
> > ----
> > OK - well, I used to think that I was somewhat socialist minded but
> > apparently you are way far to the left of me -
>
> Actually quite the opposite. I'm a little to the right of Henry David
> Thoreau.
>
> > but this is politics,
> > pure and simple and to be honest, I cannot possibly deduce from your
> > writings what you think the proper financial models should be. Clearly
>
> I don't spend much time thinking in terms of "should." I'm more concerned
> with what "is." Money is not evil, people are.
---
wow - speechless

'er almost - people are evil, corporations are evil, I see the Walden connection.

I have a theory - some people curse the darkness and some people light a
candle. We all have to choose sides.
---
> > the GPL license was written in contemplation of the fact that this is a
> > capitalistic society and that the code would not become the provincial
> > domain of any corporation, large or small, public, private or
> > non-profit, but would be available for use, study and modification. I
> > consider the GPL license to be similar to the Constitution of the United
> > States, experimental in design, aiming to reach far into the future and
> > desiring to protect freedoms some of which haven't been fully
> > identified. The fact remains that this is a capitalistic society and
> > both the Constitution and the GPL must co-exist in this society.
> >
> I think comparing the GPL to the Constitution is a bit of a stretch. In fact
> this is all sort of a tempest in a teapot. Its only software.
---
not sure that I need to defend the metaphor, yes it's only software but
the GPL license was revolutionary compared to the models of software
patents, copyrights and of recent years, leased, non-transferable,
binary only code. The GPL is how old now and it still works

The Constitution of the United States was similar, it vested a democracy
(yes, I agree that it's actually a republic whose federalist principles
have been slowly stripped away) like none that ever existed before. It
has stood up to 200+ years of famine, flood, fire, earthquake, and
disasters of the human kind too such as war, terrorism, Executive
Branch, Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch incursions on its meaning
and still it works.

If you see the comparison of the two as dissimilar, I cannot help that.
I'm certain that the framers of the Constitution and RMS (and whoever
else helped him craft the GPL, if anyone)
---
>
> > >From your earlier 'make a deal with the devil to go public' comment and
> > your allusion to 'profit motive being evil' it's fairly evident that you
> > have little use for a capitalistic society. Unfortunately, there are few
> > places on this earth where you can safely practice your craft without
> > this imposition upon you. While you may see FOSS as a means to achieve
> > socialism and software for the people, I would suggest that FOSS is more
> > of the means to keep the control out of any one or two corporations
> > hands - thus, it is about keeping the stain of money off the software.
> >
> Well, the Constitution was supposed to limit the power of government and
> protect individual liberty. It doesn't seem to be working very well.
---
all a matter of opinion...I don't see much better systems out there.
Hey, I didn't vote for W - certainly saw the irony in the the Supreme
Court, the last bastion of federalism, stomping on Florida's right to
self-determination and you don't hear me griping.
---
> 200
> years from now I doubt anyone will even remember GPL.
>
---
ah the spoken irrefutable - It's certain that we won't know that will
we?
---
> > By the way, not everyone hates monopolists...not their shareholders.
>
> Good point. So the trick is to get in on the ground floor. ;-)
---
Spoken like a true capitalist. ;-)

Craig